Gray's pipefish, also known as the mud pipefish or spiny pipefish (''Halicampus grayi'') is a species of marine fish of the family Syngnathidae. It is found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

, Sri Lanka, and from the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...

to Japan, the Marshall Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef. It lives to depth of , and

planktonic Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

juveniles have been found above depths of . It occurs in muddy habitats, in estuaries, and on

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

, where it likely feeds on small crustaceans. It can grow to lengths of . This species is ovoviviparous, with males carrying eggs in a brood pouch before giving birth to live young.

Etymology

The fish's patronym was not identified but it was certainly in honor of British zoologist John Edward Gray (1800-1875), who got Kaup’s monograph on syngnathid fishes published under the auspices of the British Museum.

Discription

''H. grayi'' is brownish with dark bars along the side of its body, and pale bars on the gill membrane. This colouring provides extremely good camouflage for muddy and silty habitats, where the species will cover itself to stay hidden.Thompson, Vanessa J. & Dianne J. Bray, Halicampus grayi in Fishes of Australia, accessed 10 Jan 2018, http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1528

References

Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup Fish described in 1856 grayi Marine fish {{Syngnathiformes-stub