The Pipefish

Pipefish – Family Syngnathidae

The Pipefish isn’t a type of seahorse but rather a sub family of small fish. They do belong to the same family though. They have a body that is long and thin. They are very unique in design and that is why people often want to have them as pets.

The name of the Pipefish comes from the fact that they have a snout that is long and thin like a pipe. The body seems to have a type of armor plating around it. This helps to keep them out of danger. They have a dorsal fin to help them move but they don’t have the pectoral fin that seahorses feature.

The gill openings are very small and located by the head area. They don’t swim well due to the design of the body. They do move very slow around and they need to rest often. Some of them have the prehensile tail but many of the sub species don’t have this feature.

Distribution

Both tropical and temperature temperatures are where you will find this species. There are about 200 overall subspecies of them though. Some of them live in saltwater and others are known to inhabit areas of freshwater. They live in lagoons, corral, sea grass, and even the sandy bottoms. They tend to live very close to the shore though in shallow water.

(source:google/http://www.seahorseworlds.com/)