FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



175 



68. Pipefish (Siplostoma fuscurn Storer) 10 



Jordan and Everrnann, 1S96-1900, p. 770. 



Description. — This is a very slender little fish, particularly so behind the vent, 

 males being about 35 times as long as deep and females about 30 times. The head 

 is one-eighth to one-ninth the total length (in the trumpetfish it is nearly one- 

 third) ; the snout is tubelike, blunt ended, and with the small toothless mouth at its 

 tip. The gill openings are very small. The entire body is covered with an armor 

 of bony plates connected in rings, of which there are 18 to 20 on the body in front 

 of the vent and 36 to 42 on the tail behind the vent. It is heptagonal in cross- 

 section in front of the vent and hexagonal behind it, a character evident when the 

 fish is in hand. The abdomen of the male is wider just back of the vent than else- 

 where, with two lateral flaps that meet along the midline to form the so-called 

 "marsupial" or brood pouch. The female lacks these. The dorsal fin (36 to 40 

 rays and 5 or 6 times as long as high) covers 4 or 5 of the bony rings in front of the 

 vent and as many behind it. The caudal fin is rounded, its middle rays the longest. 

 The anal is very small, close behind the vent; the pectorals are of moderate size; 

 there are no ventral fins. 



Fig. 81.— Pipefish (Siphosloma fuscum) 



Color. — Greenish or olive above, transversely barred and mottled with darker. 

 The lower parts of the gill covers are silvery. The lower sides are sprinkled with 

 many tiny white dots, and the angle separating side from abdomen is marked by 

 a longitudinal brown bar. The lower surface of the snout is colorless; thence back 

 to vent pale to golden yellow, with the marsupial flaps flesh-colored. Dorsal and 

 pectoral fins are pale, and the caudal is brown. 11 Pipefishes change color accord- 

 ing to the color of their surroundings. We have seen them of various shades of 

 olive and brown — even red ones having been described. 



Size. — Usually 4 to 8 and occasionally up to 12 inches long. 



General range. — Coast of eastern North America, in salt and brackish water, 

 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to North Carolina. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Although Cape Ann has often been set as 

 the northern limit of the pipefish, in reality it is not uncommon in the Bay of Fundy 

 and has been recorded from many localities along the coasts of Maine and Massa- 



i» This is the only pipefish that occurs on our northern coasts. For a synopsis of the various other species of the genus see 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 961 



» Colors after Storer (1853-1867, p. 412), with which the specimens we have examined agree in general. 



