Microphis
| Microphis | ||||||||||||
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Microphis leiaspis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Microphis | ||||||||||||
| Kaup , 1853 |
Microphis is a genus of fish from the family of pipefish (Syngnathidae), which occurs in the entire Indo-Pacific region and with only two species in the Atlantic region.
features
Microphis species are 7 to just over 20 cm long and have a very elongated, thin body. Their snouts are long and their tails are short. Like all pipefish species, Microphis species are armored by bone plates arranged in a ring. 39 to 55 rings form the body armor, 15 to 22 the armor around the tail fin stalk. In contrast to many other pipefish, Microphis has a small anal fin, which is usually supported by four fin rays. The small caudal fin has nine fin rays. The long breeding zone of the males lies under the trunk, begins on the first to third ring of bones, extends over the entire trunk to the anus and is protected by well-developed bone plates.
Way of life
Microphis species live primarily in freshwater, in coastal streams, rivers and lakes or in brackish water with low salinity. During the rainy season, especially juvenile fish are spread over large areas. They feed on zooplankton , small crustaceans and fish larvae. As with all pipefish, the eggs are taken over by the male during mating and then carried open on the underside of the trunk until the young hatch.
species
The diagnosis of more than 20 species is based primarily on the examination of preserved specimens. Since it is unlikely that a species from the Western Pacific, for example, is identical to one from the Western Indian , further species descriptions may be used in the future. Depending on the shape of the body edges, five sub-genera were described, but they are not specified here.
- Atlantic foot needle ( Microphis aculeatus ) (Kaup 1856)
- Microphis argulus (Peters, 1855)
- Flat-nosed foot needle ( Microphis biocellatus ) (Günther 1870)
- Short-tailed foot needle ( Microphis brachyurus ) (Bleeker, 1854)
- Stream pipefish ( Microphis brevidorsalis ) (de Beaufort, 1913)
- Taiwan foot needle ( Microphis caudocarinatus ) (Weber, 1907)
- Dumbéa foot needle ( Microphis cruentus ) Dawson & Fourmanoir, 1981
- Crocodile-tooth foot needle ( Microphis cuncalus ) (Hamilton, 1822)
- Indian mainland pipefish ( Microphis deocata ) (Hamilton, 1822)
- Myanmar mainland pipefish ( Microphis dunckeri ) (Prashad & Mukerji, 1929)
- Electric foot needle ( Microphis fluviatilis ) (Peters, 1852)
- Andaman foot needle ( Microphis insularis ) (Hora, 1925)
- Philippines foot needle ( Microphis jagorii ) Peters, 1868
- Bud's foot needle ( Microphis leiaspis ) (Bleeker, 1854)
- Manado foot needle ( Microphis manadensis ) (Bleeker, 1856)
- Long-fin foot needle ( Microphis mento ) (Bleeker, 1856)
- Millennial foot needle ( Microphis millepunctatus ) (Kaup 1856)
- Sri Lankan foot needle ( Microphis ocellatus ) (Duncker, 1910)
- Luzon foot needle ( Microphis pleurostictus ) Peters, 1868
- Fringed- tail pipefish ( Microphis retzii ) (Bleeker, 1856)
- Stickleback foot needle ( Microphis spinachioides ) (Duncker, 1915)
- Ligament head foot needle ( Microphis yoshi ) (Snyder 1909)
literature
- Rudie H. Kuiter : Seahorses: pipefish, shredded fish and their relatives . Ulmer (Eugen), 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3244-3 .
- Melanie Stiassny, Guy Teugels & Carl D. Hopkins: The Fresh and Brackish Water Fishes of Lower Guinea, West-Central Africa. Volume 2, ISBN 978-90-74752-20-6 .
Web links
- Microphis on Fishbase.org (English)