Color of Life, Color Conceals. Shape and color provide excellent camouflage. It also is an inefficient swimmer, moving by an undulating motion of its pectoral and dorsal fins blending into the grass.
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Order: Syngnathiformes (Pipefishes and seahorses)
Family: Syngnathidae (Pipefishes Seadragons and seahorses)
Genus/species: Syngnathoides biaculeatus
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Slender tetrahedral body; variably colored green to brown or grey, reportedly depending on habitat. Bony plates on skin form a series of protective rings. Distinct tubular snout with no jaw.
Length up to 29.0 cm
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Red Sea; South Africa to Samoa,
north to southern Japan, south to eastern Australia.
Found in protected coastal shallows over or among algae, seagrasses, or floating weeds. Juveniles occasionally found near the surface.
DIET IN THE WILD: Minute invertebrates and fish larvae.
REPRODUCTION: Ovoviviparous. The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch protectively located under his prehensile tail.
IUCN Red list Data deficient
REMARKS: The prehensile tail is long and tapering and lacks a tail fin. It is used to anchor the fish to vegetation.
Used in Chinese medicine to extract Hailong.
References
California Academy of Sciences Color on the Reef Exhibit 2015
Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/22510763066/in/album-72157608441047857/
fishbase fishbase.org/summary/Syngnathoides-biaculeatus.html
IUCN Red List www.iucnredlist.org/details/40715/0
EOL eol.org/pages/995073/details
Ron’s WordPress shortlink http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1Bu
