''Halicampus macrorhynchus'' or also commonly known as the ornate pipefish , whiskered pipefish or winged pipefish is a species of
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
in the family
Syngnathidae.
Description
The ornate pipefish is a small sized fish that can reach a maximum length of 18 cm.
[Kuiter, R.H. and T. Tonozuka, 2001. Pictorial guide to Indonesian reef fishes. Part 1. Eels- Snappers, Muraenidae - Lutjanidae. Zoonetics, Australia. 1-302.]
It has a thin and elongate body with reduced fins which are difficult to observe.
Its body color varies with its environment to match it and improve its camouflage.
It ranges from reddish to brownish through greenish and yellowish.
The backside of its body has some small skin growths, forming pairs of fins like, generally eight in number and has also small irregular whitish, pinkish spots.
The head is small and does not really stand out from the rest of the body, it has a long snout which extremity can be covered with skin growths.
Distribution
The ornate pipefish is widespread throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the
Indo-West Pacific from the eastern coast of Africa, Red Sea included, until
Salomon Islands and from
South Japan to the
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
's area in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
The ornate pipefish is found close to the bottom between the surface and 25 meters deep.
[Lieske, E. and R. Myers, 1994. Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Harper Collins Publishers, 400 p.]
It prefers areas such as reef, sandy bottom or coral rubble with algae or debris in which it can easily hide.
Biology
Like many of their congeners belonging to the family of
Pipefishes
Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons (''Phycodurus'' and ''Phyllopteryx''), form the family Syngnathidae.
Description
Pipefish look like straight-bodied seah ...
, the ornate pipefish has a
benthic lifestyle and is
ovoviviparous
Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...
.
[Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen, 1966. Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.]
Its reproduction occurs during a courtship where the female will transfer her eggs in the ventral surface of the male between skin folds forming a kind of protective pouch in which he will fertilize them and protect them during the
incubation period.
The ornate pipefish is a
carnivore. Its diet is based on small
crustaceans
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
and other invertebrates which it aspires through its tubular snout.
References
*Bamber, R.C. 1915. Reports on the marine biology of the Sudanese Red Sea, from collections made by Cyril Crossland, M.A., B.Sc., F.Z.S. — XXII. The fishes. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 31: 477-485 pl. 46
80, pl. 46(fig.4)
External links
*http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=218011
*http://www.fishbase.org/summary/10225
*http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=644996
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q120506
macrorhynchus
Taxa named by Ruth Culshaw Bamber
Fish described in 1915