Nerophis

Nerophis
	Small snake needle ( Nerophis ophidion )
Systematics
	Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
	Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order :	Pipefish (Syngnathiformes)
Family :	Pipefish (Syngnathidae)
Subfamily :	Snake needles (Nerophinae)
Genre :	Nerophis
Scientific name
	Nerophis
	Rafinesque , 1810

Nerophis is a species of pipefish that is poor in species and occurs in the northeastern Atlantic from Norway to Morocco , near the Azores , in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea . They are missing in the North Sea , but the small snake needle reachesthe western Baltic Sea via the south coast of Norway and the Kattegat .

features

Nerophis species are 15 to 30 cm long, have a very elongated, thin body and have no caudal fin. Like all pipefish, Nerophis is armored by bone plates arranged in a ring. The breeding zone of the males lies under the trunk and has no protective bag. Around 120 to 180 eggs are hatched in one brood. Nerophis species mainly live in coastal waters.

species

There are three recent types:

Crooked- nosed snake- needle ( Nerophis lumbriciformis ) (Jenyns, 1835)

Spotted snake needle ( Nerophis maculatus ) Rafinesque, 1810

Small snake needle ( Nerophis ophidion ) (Linnaeus, 1758)

In addition to the recent species, the fossil species Nerophis zapfei is known from the Middle Miocene of the Paratethys of Austria and the Republic of Moldova .

literature

Rudie H. Kuiter : Seahorses: pipefish, shredded fish and their relatives . Ulmer (Eugen), 2001, ISBN 3-80013-244-3

Individual evidence

^ YA Popov: First Record of the Pipefish Nerophis zapfei Bachmayer (Syngnathidae, Gasterosteiformes) from the Middle Miocene of Northern Moldova. In: Paleontological Journal , Volume 51, Number 5, 2017, pp. 533-541, ( digitized ).

Web links

Commons : Nerophis - collection of images, videos and audio files

Nerophis on Fishbase.org (English)

[Popov,_2017-1] YA Popov: First Record of the Pipefish Nerophis zapfei Bachmayer (Syngnathidae, Gasterosteiformes) from the Middle Miocene of Northern Moldova. In: Paleontological Journal , Volume 51, Number 5, 2017, pp. 533-541, ( digitized ).