314 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Breeding. 79 — On the southern shores of New 

 England pipefish breed from March to August; 

 probably through this same period on the shores 

 of the Gulf of Maine. Male pipefishes nurse the 

 eggs in the brood pouch (p. 313), the flaps of which 

 ordinarily lie flat but are swollen and have their 

 edges cemented together during the breeding 

 season. The protruding oviduct of the female 

 is inserted into the opening of the pouch of the 

 male and a dozen or more eggs are passed over. 

 This occurs several times in succession, with 

 intervals of rest, until the pouch is filled, the male 

 working the eggs down toward the rear end of 

 his pouch by body contortions. Fertilization is 

 supposed to take place during the transference 

 of the eggs from one parent to the other. The 

 eggs become embedded in the lining of the brood 

 pouch, and it has been established for the European 

 pipefish (probably this applies equally to our 

 North American species) that the embryos within 

 the eggs are nourished by the epithelial lining 

 layer of the pouch, so that the latter functions 

 as a placenta. 80 



Incubation occupies about 10 days, according 

 to Gudger, and the young are retained in the 

 brood pouch until they are 8 or 9 mm. long, when 

 the yolk sac has been absorbed. The young 

 pipefish are then ready for independent existence, 

 and once they leave the pouch they never return 

 to it, as young sea horses (Hippocampus) are 

 said to do (p. 315). Several observers agree on 

 this, among them Miss Marie Poland (now Mrs. 

 C. J. Fish), who kept pipefish under observation 

 at the laboratory of the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries at Woods Hole during the summer of 

 1922. 



Pipefish fry kept in aquaria have been found to 

 grow from about %-inch (10 mm.) to about 2%- 

 inches (70 mm.) in length within about 2 months 

 after hatching. 81 It is probable that they mature 

 when about 1 year old. 



General range. — Coast of eastern North America, 

 in salt and brackish water, from the southern side 



'» For a historical survey and a general account, of the breeding of the closely 

 allied Siphnstoma floridae see Gudger (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 29, 1900. 

 pp. 447-500, pis: 5-11). 



1 For detailed (if somewhat divergent) accounts of this interesting phe- 

 nomenon see Huot (Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Ser. 8, Zoologie, vol. 

 14, 1902, pp. 197-288) and Cohn (Anatomischer Anzeiger, Centralblatt 

 fur die gesamte wissenschaftliche Anatomie, vol. 24, 1904, pp. 192-199). 



M Tracy, 40th Kept., Rhode Island Comm. Inland Fish., 1910, p. 93. 



of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 82 and outer Nova 

 Scotia at Halifax, to South Carolina. 83 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The pipefish 

 has been recorded from so many localities along 

 Maine and Massachusetts that it is evidently to 

 be expected anywhere there, in suitable situations; 

 it is not uncommon in the Bay of Fundy; it has 

 been reported from outer Nova Scotian waters 

 and is common locally in the southern side of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, as noted in the preceding 

 paragraph. It is probable also that they breed 

 in every favorable locality all around the shores 

 of the Gulf, but there are local differences in this 

 respect, for while St. Mary Bay, Annapolis Basin, 

 and Cobequid Bay, on the Nova Scotian shore of 

 the Bay of Fundy, are breeding centers according 

 to Huntsman, large specimens alone are known 

 about Passamaquoddy Bay on the New Bruns- 

 wick side. No doubt the estuarine waters from 

 the Massachusetts Bay region to Penobscot Bay 

 are favorable nurseries. 



Importance. — The pipefish is of no commercial 

 importance. 



Pelagic pipefish Syngnathus pelagicus Linnaeus 

 1758 



Jordan and Evermann, Siphostoma pelagicum (Osbeck), 

 1895-1900, p. 767. 



Description. — Most of the species of pipefishes 

 resemble one another so closely that they can be 

 named only by critical examination. The pelagic 

 pipefish differs from its common shore relative 

 of New England (5". fuscus) by having fewer 

 dorsal rays (29 to 31) and fewer rings of bony 

 plates, of which only 16 or 17 are in front of the 

 vent, and 31 to 35 behind the vent. 



General range. — Tropical Atlantic, northward 

 with the Gulf Stream; also the Mediterranean, 

 and the Southern Pacific and Tropical Indian 

 Oceans. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — A single 

 specimen, 3% inches (89 mm.) long, taken on 

 Georges Bank (Lat. 42° 09' N.; Long. 66° 41' W.), 

 September 20, 1927, by the Albratross His, the only 

 Gulf of Maine record. This specimen was dipped 

 up with a mass of gulf weed (Sargassum), and was 

 the only one found in a large amount of weed 

 that was examined. 



11 Leim (Proc. Nova Scotian Inst. Sci., vol. 20, 1940, p. 38) found them com- 

 mon at Prince Edward Island. 



" There is a specimen from Charleston, S. C, in the Museum of Com para- 

 i ive Zoology. 



