''Dunckerocampus pessuliferus'' (yellowbanded pipefish), occasionally ''Doryrhamphus pessuliferus'', is a species of marine fish of the family
Syngnathidae. It is a coastal species, inhabiting waters around the
Coral Triangle, including the Philippines, Indonesia, and northwestern Australia.
It lives in coral patches on sandy and muddy slopes at depths of , where it can grow to lengths of . It is an active cleaner, feeding off of parasitic
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 ...
growing on other fishes.
[ The adult fish form pairs and are normally observed swimming along the bottom around large remote coral heads on muddy slopes.]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 ...
, with males carrying eggs and giving birth to live young.[
It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade, but is protected in Australia under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.]
Identifying features
The head and body of ''D. pessuliferus'' have alternating reddish-brown and yellow bands, while the tail is mostly red with a yellow spot in the center and marginal white markings.[Thompson, Vanessa J. & Dianne J. Bray, Dunckerocampus pessuliferus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 20 Jan 2018, http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3180]
References
Further reading
iNaturalist
External links
*
pessuliferus
Marine fish
Fish described in 1938
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