Worm pipefish

Worm pipefish
Nerophis lumbriciformis in Britain, France.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Subfamily: Syngnathinae
Genus: Nerophis
Species: N. lumbriciformis
Binomial name
Nerophis lumbriciformis
(Jenyns, 1835)
Synonyms
  • 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[1]

Like other pipefish, this species is sex role-reversed, with females courting males whom subsequently brood the young.[2]


Naturalist drawing.


References

  1. ↑ 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).
  2. ↑ 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.
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