Nineteen centimeters (7.5 in) of banded pipefish hanging head-down under an overhang, with a red tail marked in white. The bands are the field mark: many and narrow here, few and broad on its deeper relative.
Head-down is the working position. These fish hover at an angle at a cleaning station, tail fanned as an advertisement, and clients arrive and hold still. A cleaner has to be visible and has to be recognizable, which is why the family's boldest markings belong to the species that clean.
It shelters in caves and under ledges by day and works the same station for months, so a pair found once can usually be found again.
The male carries the eggs on the underside of the tail. The two fish stay together, and in aquariums - where this species is popular precisely because it cleans - a pair that is split usually stops feeding.
The genus. Dunckerocampus Whitley 1933 - Duncker (in honor of ichthyologist Georg Duncker) + kampos (mythological sea monster). ETYFish
- many narrow dark bands - more numerous and thinner than in the broad-banded species
- red tail fin with a white center spot and white margin
- hovers head-down under overhangs, often in pairs
- length up to 19 cm
