Pipefish

ID points

• Body slender as a stick, encased in rings of bony plates
• Tubular snout, with head and body in a straight line
• Moves slowly by fluttering its dorsal fin at high speed

Basics

Family

Syngnathidae

Length

10–30 cm

Depth

0-20 m

Regions

Indo-Pacific reefs · Caribbean & W. Atlantic

Distribution

Seagrass beds and coral reefs in warm shallow seas worldwide

Habitat

Seagrass beds and shallow reefs

Diet

Small crustaceans

Easily confused with

Leafy SeadragonLeaf-shaped skin flaps all over the body, looking like seaweedBig-belly SeahorseBelly especially swollen, one of the largest of all seahorsesSeahorseHead set at almost a right angle to the body; floats upright

Fun fact

The Pipefish is a close relative of the seahorse, with a long tube-like body sheathed in bony plates. The male does the brooding, carrying the eggs on a brood patch on his belly that ranges from an open groove to a semi-enclosed pouch depending on the species, a little different from the fully sealed pouch of a seahorse, until the young hatch.

More in this family

• Pygmy Seahorse
• Weedy Seadragon