Doryrhamphus
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A Honshu pipefish ( Doryrhamphus japonicus ) swims upside down, always close to the substrate. |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
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| Kaup , 1856 |
Doryrhamphus is a genus of pipefish that occurs in the Red Sea , the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific from southern Japan to New Guinea and Queensland .
features
Doryrhamphus species become 3.5 to 14 cm long. They are mostly reddish or reddish brown in color and have a blue longitudinal stripe that extends from the tip of the snout over the eyes and the sides of the body to the base of the caudal fin. The large, round or fan-shaped tail fins are each patterned with a distinctive drawing that is typical of the species.
Way of life
Doryrhamphus species live in coral reefs and are free swimming fish, but always stay close to caves or crevices. The belly side is always turned towards the next solid surface, a Doryrhamphus specimen that moves along a cave ceiling, so swims with its belly up. Doryrhamphus species feed primarily on small crustaceans such as copepods , and some species also act as cleaners and clean larger fish from parasitic crustaceans.
Doryrhamphus species usually live in pairs as adult fish. After courtship, the males take over the eggs from the female to carry them on the spongy side of the abdomen. The 50 to 200 eggs lie there half-open and are not protected by lateral skin flaps. The fry seem to have no or only a short pelagic stage.
species
There are nine types described . Kuiter gives three more, so far undescribed species for the genus.
- Doryrhamphus aurolineatus Randall & Earle, 1994; 3.5 cm; Arabian sea .
- Double chin pipefish ( Doryrhamphus bicarinatus ) Dawson, 1981; 8 cm; Indian Ocean , from South and East Africa to the Andamans .
- Blue-stripe pipefish ( Doryrhamphus excisus ) Kaup, 1856; 6.5 cm; Red Sea , western Indian Ocean.
- Cleaner pipefish ( Doryrhamphus janssi ) (Herald & Randall, 1972); 14 cm, Philippines to Northern Australia, Andaman Sea and Christmas Island .
- Honshu pipefish ( Doryrhamphus japonicus ) Araga & Yoshino, 1975; 8.5 cm, southern Japan to Indonesia and New Guinea .
- Doryrhamphus malus (Whitley, 1954)
- Doryrhamphus melanopleura (Bleeker 1858)
- Flag- tailed pipefish ( Doryrhamphus negrosensis ) Herre, 1934; 5.5 cm; Philippines, Micronesia to Northern New Guinea .
- Doryrhamphus paulus Fritzsche, 1980
Systematics
Doryrhamphus is the eponymous kind of the subfamily of flagtail pipefish (Doryrhamphinae) connected to the coil needles (Nerophinae) the taxon Gastrophori make, so that Jianzui in which the hatching zone in males under the abdomen is in front of the anus. Dunckerocampus was originally viewed as a subgenus of Doryrhamphus , but is now considered an independent genus.
literature
- Rudie H. Kuiter : Seahorses: pipefish, shredded fish and their relatives . Ulmer (Eugen), 2001, ISBN 3-80013-244-3
Web links
- Doryrhamphus on Fishbase.org (English)
- Eschmeyer, WN, & R. Fricke. Catalog of Fishes .