Worm pipefish

Worm pipefish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Nerophis
Species:
N. lumbriciformis
Binomial name
Nerophis lumbriciformis
(Jenyns, 1835)
Synonyms[2]
  • Syngnathus lumbriciformis Jenyns, 1835

The worm pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis) is a species of pipefish (of the family Syngnathidae), found in the North-eastern Atlantic along the coasts of Europe from the southern Norway, Kattegat and British Islands to Río de Oro in Western Sahara. The fish has a length of up to 15 cm. It inhabits rocky coastal areas with macrophytes at depths to 30 m.

The worm pipefish feeds primarily on Harpacticoid and cyclopoid copepods[3]

Like other pipefish, this species is sex role-reversed, with females courting males whom subsequently brood the young.[4]

Naturalist drawing.

References

  1. ^ Pollom, R. (2015). "Nerophis lumbriciformis". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T18258202A80249285. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015.RLTS.T18258202A80249285.en.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Nerophis lumbriciformis". FishBase. February 2018 version.
  3. ^ Lyons, D. O. and Dunne, J. J. 2004. Inter- and intra-gender analyses of feeding ecology of the worm pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 84(2).
  4. ^ Monteiro, N, Vieira, M. N. and Almada, V. C. 2002. The courtship behaviour of the pipefish Nerophis lumbriciformis: reflections of an adaptation to intertidal life. Acta Ethologica 4(2): 109–111.