Syngnathus acus, Greater pipefish : aquarium

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Syngnathus acus Linnaeus, 1758

Greater pipefish
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Syngnathus acus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Syngnathus acus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Syngnathiformes (Pipefishes and seahorses) > Syngnathidae (Pipefishes and seahorses) > Syngnathinae
Etymology: Syngnathus: Greek, syn, symphysis = grown together + Greek, gnathos = jaw (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; non-migratory (Ref. 88171); depth range 0 - 110 m (Ref. 4281), usually 3 - 15 m (Ref. 126547). Subtropical; 71°N - 35°S, 19°W - 42°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Norway, Faroes and British Isles to Western Sahara, Senegambia, and from Namibia to Cape of Good Hope and northward to the coast of Zululand in the western Indian Ocean (Ref. 4127). Also throughout the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black seas. Despite literature records, occurrence in the Indo-Pacific outside South African waters lacks conclusive evidence (Ref. 4281).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 16.3, range 7 - 25.6 cm
Max length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 35388)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 33-42; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 3. Light greenish to dark brown in color with variable markings (Ref. 4281). Snout cylindrical, equal to or less than eye diameter. With 18 - 19 body rings between head and dorsal fin (Ref. 35388). The snake pipefish (Entelurus aequoreus) is distinguished by the lack of pectoral and anal fins (Ref. 88171). An elongated bump on top of head behind eye (Ref. 59043).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in coastal and estuarine waters to depths of at least 110 m (Ref. 4281); on sand, mud and rough bottoms. Common amongst algae and eel-grass (Zostera) (Refs. 4146, 6733, 88187). Feeds mainly on small crustaceans (Ref. 85544). It is parasitised by the monogenean Gyrodactylus eyipayipi on the body surface, inside the flute and male brood pouch (Ref. 124059).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Ovoviviparous; reproducing on average 3 times each year (Ref. 89328). Several females depositing partial clutches to a male’s brood pouch under the tail (Refs. 205, 31201). Up to 400 eggs may be found in a single pouch (Ref. 89329). Brooding males occur mainly between May and July (Refs. 31201, 58137). During the breeding season, both males and females were observed to remain low amongst the seagrass in one meadow (Ref. 31201). Gestation period lasts about 5 weeks and size at birth is 1.7- 3.5 cm (Refs. 58137, 88187, 89330). Aquarium experiments have shown that new born young are benthic, remaining close to the bottom Ref. 89330).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Dawson, C.E., 1986. Syngnathidae. p. 628-639. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Volume 2. Unesco, Paris. (Ref. 6733)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 May 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 10.3 - 22.6, mean 17.7 °C (based on 934 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00025 (0.00019 - 0.00032), b=3.21 (3.16 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Fec=200).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (40 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 54.6 [12.4, 151.7] mg/100g; Iron = 1.02 [0.39, 3.52] mg/100g; Protein = 3.7 [0.1, 7.5] %; Omega3 = 0.286 [0.130, 0.629] g/100g; Selenium = 22.8 [5.1, 60.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 9.35 [4.02, 21.44] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.838 [0.431, 1.605] mg/100g (wet weight);