GHOST PIPEFISH

A long, very long, time ago, we were in Southern Thailand on a reef called Hin Muang. It was dreadfully pretty, an unbelievable array of colours and tones. Staring at one place for a long time was a bit like those puzzles in a magazine... squint for long enough and a dolphin suddenly appears. Only in this case, my eyes settled on this rather hairy creature just a couple of inches long. Getting closer we looked and frowned, What was it?

We snapped a couple of frames then described it to our divemaster. We all decided it must have been a seahorse of some sort. Except it was upside down and hairy. OK, OK. We were young and green and had no ID books.
Several years later, we realised that the weird creature had been an ornate ghost pipefish.

All pipefishes are a member of the Syngnathidae family the group that also includes seahorses, pipehorses and seadragons. The Latin name means fused jaw. There are 55 genera and more than 320 difference species. However, ghost pipefish fall under the sub-family Solenostomus which is a small and extremely exclusive set.

Scientists think there are about ten species of ‘ghosty’ but there’s lots of controversy as to whether that number is right. The reason for this confusion is that these tiny fish have the ability to change their appearance at whim. However, their basic characteristics are much the same. Ghost pipefish sizes range from about seven centimetres to fifteen, females are larger than males and they are often seen in monogomous pairs. The female's pelvic fins are larger than those of the male and are connected to the body to form a pouch. Their latin name, Solenostomus means "tube-like snout" and refers to the small, pipette-like mouth that is used to suck up small shrimp.

Although closely related to seahorses, ghost pipefish reproduction is more typical - the female carries the brood in the pouch formed by her modified pelvic fins. Ghosties are also site specific. Because they have the ability to adapt their bodies to match their surroundings they find it easy to blend into wherever they are. And once they have picked a nice pink fan and turned pink, or a nice hairy bit of algae and gone all hairy, you are likely to find them in the same spot day after day. So seeing one, is all about which ones look like what and then checking that out!

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