Student Stuff
Orange Hairy Ghostpipefish
Solenostomus new species
A 50mm Orange Hairy Ghostpipefish collected at Ashmore Reef, Coral Sea.
Ghostpipefishes (Family Solenostomidae) are different from seahorses in several ways. A ghostpipefish's head is held at an angle to the body, but the angle is less than that in seahorses. Ghostpipefishes have two dorsal fins whereas a seahorse only has one. Female ghostpipefishes (rather than the male seahorse) look after the eggs in a pouch formed by her enlarged ventral fins.
The fish in the upper image was photographed by J. Davis near Taviuni, Fiji. The second and third images (of the same fish), were shot by J. Matthews (DOUTS - Diving Organisation of the University of Technology Sydney) on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.
The fish in the lower image was collected on the Outer Barrier Reef Fish Survey (FNQ) at 30m on a vertical coral wall at Ashmore Reef, Coral Sea, 19 Jan 1993. This specimen is registered in the Australian Museum Fish Collection. This was the first specimen collected in Australian waters. It was living in association with fine filamentous orange-coloured algae.
The Great Barrier Reef fish (and possibly the Fiji fish) was also living in association with orange-coloured algae, although in shallower depths. The two Great Barrier Reef fish (6cm long - images on this page, and one 3cm long - large image) were photographed at a depth of 8-10m on a sandy bottom, next to a vertical coral dropoff with an orange algal cover. The larger fish was observed to eat a small silver fish about 2cm long. The Fiji fish was photographed at a depth of 20m at the base of a coral bommie rising from a sandy bottom.
This new species is referred to as the Algae Ghostpipefish by some diving groups and as the Halimeda Ghostpipefish by Kuiter 2000 (see Further Reading).
Further reading
- Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Crawford House Press. Pp. 437.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Seahorses, Pipefishes and their Relatives. A Comprehensive Guide to Syngnathiformes. TMC Publishing Pp. 240.
- Orr, J.W & T.W. Pietsch. in Paxton, J.R. & W.N. Eschmeyer (Eds). 1994. Encyclopedia of Fishes. Sydney: New South Wales University Press; San Diego: Academic Press [1995]. Pp. 240.
- Orr, J.W. & R.A. Fritzsche. 1993. Revision of the Ghost Pipefishes, Family Solenostomidae (Teleostei: Syngnathoidei). Copeia. 1: 168-182.
