Species: Syngnathus caribbaeus, Caribbean pipefish
pattern 2: irregular lines above, blue bars below
trunk rings 15-18
Syngnathus caribbaeus Dawson, 1979
Caribbean pipefish
Snout long, slender, sloping downwards; moderate vertical bone in front of eye; ridge along side of operculum low, on front 1/3 only in adult, no ridge along side of snout; ridge along top of snout and head low; dorsal fin 25-32, fin low, its origin on trunk, well before anus; anal fin 2-4, fin short, seldom reaches beyond 2nd tail ring; pectoral fin 12-15; no pelvic fins; tail fin 10; ridge along side of body ends at level near anus; upper ridge of body discontinuous with that of tail just behind dorsal fin; ridges along bottom of body and tail joined; main body ridges low, except those on back elevated so back is concave in between them; trunk rings 15-18; tail rings 31-35; no skin flaps; brood pouch under tail, its plates folded inwards.
Color variable: pattern 1: brown, with 8-9 diffuse pale bars each ~1 ring wide on upper body, scattered pale spots on lower half of body; pattern 2: green-brown with irregular brown streaks or lines on upper head and body, lower body with thin blue-white bars on each ring that gradually change to blotches on tail, dorsal fin with 10-12 brownish bars.
Reaches 30 cm.
Coastal and estuarine; muddy to weedy bottoms.
Depth: 0-5 m.
Cuba to the S Caribbean.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Brackish
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Estuary
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Mud
- Soft bottom only
- Sand & gravel
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Submerged vegetation
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Planktivore
- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
-
- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Bony fishes
- Pelagic jellyfish/ctenophores
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Live birth
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- West Atlantic Endemic
- All species.
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Also in Brazil
- All species..
- Continent
- Island (s)
- Extends South of GC
- Continent + Island (s)
- GC non-endemic
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 30
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 5
