Pipefish
Pipefish look like straight-bodied seahorses with tiny mouths. The name is derived from the peculiar form of their snout, which is like a long tube, ending in narrow and small mouth which opens upwards and is toothless. The body and tail are long, thin, and snake-like. They have a highly modified skeleton formed into armored plating. This dermal skeleton has several longitudinal ridges, so that a vertical section through the body looks angular, not round or oval as in the majority of other fishes.
A dorsal fin is always present, and is the principal (in some species, the only) organ of locomotion. The ventral fins are constantly absent, and the other fins may or may not be developed. The gill openings are extremely small and placed near the upper posterior angle of the gill-cover.
Many are very weak swimmers in open water, moving slowly by means of rapid movements of the dorsal fin. Some species of pipefish have tails that are prehensile as in seahorses. The majority of pipefishes have some form of a caudal fin (unlike seahorses), which can be used for locomotion. See fish anatomy for fin descriptions. There are species of pipefish with more developed caudal fins, such as the group collectively known as flag-tail pipefish, are quite strong swimmers.
The banded pipefish or ringed pipefish (Doryrhamphus dactyliophorus) is a species of fish in the Syngnathidae (seahorses and pipefish) family. It inhabits tide pools, lagoons, and outer reef slopes in tropical climates. Its range includes Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Japan, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, South Africa, and Taiwan.
The banded pipefish has a straight, elongated body which reaches a maximum length of 19 cm (7.4 in). It has fleshy streams coming back from its head, trailing sometimes metres behind the fish itself. These trails are thought to be mechanisms of camouflage for the pipefish whilst hiding in reeds.
Similar to other seahorses and pipefish, the male banded pipefish is equipped with a specialised brood pouch, rather than the female. The female will deposit her eggs in the male's pouch, where they ill be developed. The male will later give birth.
Corythoichthys haematopterus is a pipefish from the Indo-Pacific. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade where it is commonly known as the dragonfaced pipefish. It grows to a size of 19.8cm in length.