A pipefish of seagrass and estuaries rather than of coral, sixteen centimeters (6 in), marked with rows of small blue spots along a brown body.
Its genus is the one that leaves the sea. These are the pipefishes of brackish creeks and river mouths, and some populations live in water that is entirely fresh - which for an animal with a marine ancestry is an expensive adjustment, and one reason they are found where no other pipefish is.
The body is a chain of bony rings, not a flexible fish, so it swims with the dorsal fin alone, rippling it while the rest holds rigid. That is slow, and it is the price of being a piece of grass rather than a fish.
As in every pipefish and seahorse, the male is the one that gets pregnant. The female transfers eggs to a brood area on his belly, he carries them until they hatch, and the young leave as miniature adults. What differs across the family is only the plumbing: a full sealed pouch in some, an open glued strip in others.
The genus. Hippichthys Bleeker 1849 - ichthys (fish). ETYFish
The species. Hippichthys cyanospilos (Bleeker 1854) - cyano- (blue) + spilos (mark or spot). ETYFish
- brown to olive body with rows of small blue spots along the flank
- short snout for a pipefish, body ringed in bony plates
- in seagrass and brackish water rather than on coral
- length up to 16 cm
