Virtual Travel-Meet a Pipefish
This Pipefish was seen at Busch Gardens dive site at Little Cayman, BWI. This one was about 5 centimeters (2 inches) long. When diving in shallow, sandy-bottomed areas look for little pieces of brown branches with eyes! floating on the currents and you are probably seeing a pipefish or pipehorse. Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons (Phycodurus and Phyllopteryx), form the family Syngnathidae. Pipefish look like straight-bodied seahorses with tiny mouths. The name is derived from the peculiar form of the snout, which is like a long tube, ending in a narrow and small mouth which opens upwards and is toothless. The body and tail are long, thin, and snake-like. Many are very weak swimmers in open water, moving slowly by means of rapid movements of the dorsal fin. Some species of pipefish have prehensile tails, as in seahorses. #littlecayman #bloodybay #littl...