Syngnathus acus

image: Galargus (licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Greater Pipefish

Syngnathus acus Linnaeus, 1758 or Greater pipefish (EN), Marinha-comum (PT), Aguja de Mar (SP), Syngnathe aiguille (FR), Pesce ago (IT), Grosse Seenadel (DE) or Större kantnål (SE) is a large pipefish that can grow more than 30cm. It has a brown body, adorned with white details. Occasionally, reproductive females have an orange body tone. Both sexes are not easily morphologically distinguishable, except for the presence (males) or absence (females) of a brooding pouch. This pipefish is commonly found in the Aegean, Black and Mediterranean seas, and in the northeastern of Europe (from the Iberian Peninsula to Norway). It inhabits coastal, brackish waters, densely vegetated by seagrass or seaweed. Like other syngnathids, they hunt by adopting a “sit-and-wait” strategy and mainly feed on small crustaceans (copepods, amphipods, and decapods) and cypris larvae.

IUCN Red List assessment: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/198765/44933898

Broadnosed pipefish distribution, according to IUCN (corrected by depth; marine coastal distribution only).

S. acus breeding season ranges from March to September, varying according to latitude and temperature. Males were observed to mate with more than one female per pregnancy. The courtship ritual consists of the two swimming together, while the male occasionally shakes his body. When the female is ready for egg transference, the two swim above the vegetation, staying close while the female deposits her eggs in the male brooding pouch located on the tail. Then the male swims towards the bottom, contracting his body to rearrange the eggs and immobilizes in an S-shape to fertilize them. The juveniles arise fully developed from the brooding pouch and no further parental care is provided. It can be hypothesized that the parents don’t recognize their offspring after parturition, because juveniles are highly cannibalized by adults in nature, including their parents.

image: Ana Santos (licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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