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Diagnostic Description

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Pectoral and caudal fins absent. Anal opening below front end of the dorsal fin. With 17-19 body rings. The snout is short and bent upwards (Ref. 35388).
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Recorder
Arlene G. Sampang-Reyes
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Life Cycle

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Males brood their offspring attached to their flattened ventral surface. All throughout the gestation period, parental care is strictly paternal. No further care is needed once the newborn juveniles become free-swimming (Ref. 42359).Sex roles are reversed in this species. The females are the courting sex and change color more intensely than the males (Ref. 42363). Unlike in other pipefishes, the courtship ritual takes place in close contact with the substratum which may characterise adaptation to typical intertidal conditions (Ref. 42363).
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Recorder
Susan M. Luna
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Biology

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Intertidal to about 30 m (Ref. 6733), among rocks or holdfasts and lower branches of algae (Ref. 4509). Spawn in the summer months. Become sexually mature at an age of 2 years. Feed on small crustaceans and fish fry (Ref. 35388). Larvae are attached to the ventral surface of the males (Ref. 42359). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 205). Parental care is exclusively paternal (Ref. 42359). The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch which is found under the tail (Ref. 205).
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Liza Q. Agustin
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Worm pipefish

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The worm pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis) is a species of pipefish (of the family Syngnathidae), found in the North-eastern Atlantic along the coasts of Europe from the southern Norway, Kattegat and British Islands to Río de Oro in Western Sahara. The fish has a length of up to 15 cm. It inhabits rocky coastal areas with macrophytes at depths to 30 m.

The worm pipefish feeds primarily on Harpacticoid and cyclopoid copepods[3]

Like other pipefish, this species is sex role-reversed, with females courting males whom subsequently brood the young.[4]

Naturalist drawing.

References

  1. ^ Pollom, R. (2015). "Nerophis lumbriciformis". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T18258202A80249285. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015.RLTS.T18258202A80249285.en.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2018). "Nerophis lumbriciformis" in FishBase. February 2018 version.
  3. ^ Lyons, D. O. and Dunne, J. J. 2004. Inter- and intra-gender analyses of feeding ecology of the worm pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 84(2).
  4. ^ Monteiro, N, Vieira, M. N. and Almada, V. C. 2002. The courtship behaviour of the pipefish Nerophis lumbriciformis: reflections of an adaptation to intertidal life. Acta Ethologica 4(2): 109-111.

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Worm pipefish: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

The worm pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis) is a species of pipefish (of the family Syngnathidae), found in the North-eastern Atlantic along the coasts of Europe from the southern Norway, Kattegat and British Islands to Río de Oro in Western Sahara. The fish has a length of up to 15 cm. It inhabits rocky coastal areas with macrophytes at depths to 30 m.

The worm pipefish feeds primarily on Harpacticoid and cyclopoid copepods

Like other pipefish, this species is sex role-reversed, with females courting males whom subsequently brood the young.

Naturalist drawing.
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Wikipedia authors and editors
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