Alluding to the fact that even though it’s a relatively common fish, ornate ghost pipefish are very well-camouflaged and difficult to find.

[2] S. paradoxus are distinguishable from other species in the order Syngnathiformes (seahorses, seadragons, and pipefishes) through their characteristic two dorsal fins.

With individuals of dark-color phases housing pigments made up of deep browns, crimsons, yellows, and blacks.

They generally maintain an upright posture and possess a prehensile tail, as well as a dermal skeleton consisting of multiple star-shaped stellate plates arranged sequentially and extending to the sides of the body.

A place where the enlarged pelvic fins of the female can fuse together with the abdomen, along the dorsal margin, to form a brood sac for the containment of their offspring.

With S. paradoxus specifically inhabiting the waters of the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean along reef edges prone to strong currents from the Red Sea to Tonga.

When S. paradoxus are deciding on a habitat, due to their vast differences in coloration, members of the species will search for and inhabit hosts that resemble gorgonians, corals, crinoids, hydroids, algae substrata, floating weeds, or seagrass beds that complement their coloration.

For example, the female S. paradoxus acquired off the coast of Mainland India was able to provide a litany of knowledge from its acquisition at a depth of 40 meters in the Arabian Sea.

The embryos of S. paradoxus are enclosed within egg envelopes and are attached to epidermal stalks, termed cotylephores, which only occur in brooding females.

Small S. paradoxus larvae, smaller than 3.9 mm in total body length, are not likely to be present outside of a female’s brood pouch.

The ornate ghost pipefish is an extremely popular fish among photographers, undoubtably thanks to is unique and beautiful appearance.

During a scientific report of the critical habitats of NSW and their selected threatened marine species, researchers noted that many dive shops they visited sported the images of S. paradoxus on postcards and brochures.

These host species are more prone to harm thanks to the damage inflicted by inexperienced divers and the ever-rising threat of anthropogenic, man-made, CO2 and the associated coral bleaching it causes through climate change.

Additional damage could also possibly arise from bottom trawling operations, ship anchors, and many more general anthropogenic causes like pollution.

[10] To prevent further endangerment to the species, it is incentivized that divers are educated in underwater practices to avoid harming marine organisms, that destructive practices like bottom trawling be limited, that sites housing important benthic species be marked to prohibit anchoring in their area, and that we a society move towards more definitive actions in combating climate change.

Further studies on this fish are incentivized, but inhibited by its cryptic camouflage, small size, and solitary and seasonal behaviors.