Bay Pipefish
Syngnathus legtorhynchus

Physical Description

• Long, very skinny fish with tubular, toothless mouths.
• Green coloration for camouflage.
• Instead of scales, they have jointed, bonelike rings around their body.
• They have tiny dorsal (back) and pectoral (side) fins that beat rapidly as they slowly swim.
• Adults can be up to 13 inches long.
• Females are larger than males.

Range

• Sitka, Alaska to southern Baja California, Mexico.

Habitat

• Live in eelgrass (often they sway back and forth with the currents to camouflage with the eelgrass).
• Found in bays, estuaries, and sloughs.
• Also found in coral reefs.

Reproduction

• Unlike most animals, a female pipefish courts the male.
• If the male accepts, the female deposits up to 721 eggs into a brooding pouch on the male, where he incubates and nourishes the eggs for up to 6 weeks before they hatch.
• When the babies hatch, they are immediately ready to swim away and live on their own.

Diet

• Plankton and small crustaceans.

Predators

• Brown smoothhounds, spotted sand bass, elegant terns.

Interesting Facts

• Bay pipefish have no teeth. They eat by slurping up food through their tubelike mouth.
• Pipefish are very close relatives of seahorses.
• A pipefish steers by moving its head side to side. 

Sources: Wildcoast; Monterey Bay Aquarium; FishBase; Oregon Coast Aquarium

Photo: Rocio Gajon Bunker