Banner’s Pipefish

Cosmocampus banneri, commonly known as the roughridge pipefish or Banner's pipefish, is a marine species belonging to the family Syngnathidae. This species is distributed from the 🌊 Red Sea and the 🌊 Western Indian Ocean to 🇫🇯 Fiji, the 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands, and the Ryukyu Islands (🇯🇵 Japan). It inhabits coral reef environments at depths ranging from 2 to 30 meters and can attain a length of up to 5.8 cm. While specific information on the feeding habits of C. banneri is limited, it is presumed to consume small crustaceans, akin to other members of the pipefish family. The species exhibits ovoviviparity, with males responsible for carrying eggs in a brood pouch until the young are born live.

The species is named in honor of Albert Henry Banner (1914–1985), an esteemed American carcinologist renowned for his expertise in alpheid shrimps.