Description The bay pipefish (Syngnathus californiensis) is a pipefish native to the eelgrass beds of the Eastern Pacific (Southern Baja California to Gulf of Alaska), where its sinuous shape and green color allow it to blend in with the waving blades of eelgrass.
These pipefish also have bony plates that span the length of their ten inch, thin frame.
These bony plates help them stay protected from predation and support their body structurally.
Most of their time is spent feeding on algae during the day due to the fact they lack a stomach.
Like other members of the seahorse family, male pipefish tend the eggs laid by their female partners in specialized pouches.
It is the female pipefish that spend their time courting the male by demonstrations of their colorful appearance, brought out by breeding season.
Within this brooding pouch, the females will lay around two hundred eggs in the span of two hours.
The males during this period maintain the appearance of being pregnant and provide nourishment to the embryos through its bloodstream and an extremity connected to their abdominal wall.
Typically, male pipefish are known to have a breeding period of at least 6 months and are not found to be monogamous.
Distribution Bay pipefish typically dwell within coastal marine environments that are specific for seagrass.
Eelgrass, a type of seagrass, is most commonly distributed from British Columbia to Pacific and Atlantic waters.
Therefore, bay pipefish can be found along the coast ranging from the oceans intertidal zone to depths of 10-20 meters.
However, due to the size of their limited gaped mouth, pipefish are not capable of consuming larger amphipods.
Bay pipefish are part of a specialist diet, they are capable of eating larger fleshy individuals, and can feed on algae.
Bay pipefish typically like to be stationary and hide in seagrass and then lie in wait to corner their prey.
In either instance, pipefish demonstrate an important shared characteristic when it comes to hunting behaviors in that they require stealth and slow movement when catching prey.
It is not until late fall when these creatures venture back to their preferred deeper channel areas.
For example, pipefish with reduced caudal fins and “ prehensile tail” are more sedentary, commonly found staying around eelgrass and macrophyte canopies.
In other pipefish, with more vegetation around their habitat and more advanced caudal fin, they experience more mobility.
However, seagrass environments have been experiencing a decline worldwide due to human activities such as habitat fragmentation and natural causes.
Fine-scale population genetic structure of the eastern Pacific bay pipefish, Syngnathus leptorhynchu.
Feeding Ecology of the Northern Pipefish,Syngnathus Fuscus, in a Seagrass Community of the Lower Chesapeake Bay - Estuaries and Coasts.
Trophic relationships in a seagrass community (Thalassia testudinum) in Card Sound, Florida.