FAMILY SYNGNATHIDA — SYNGNATHUS. _ 32] 
THE GREEN PIPE-FISH. 
SYNGNATHUS VIRIDESCENS, 
PLATE LIV. FIG. 176. —(STATE COLLECTION.) 
Characteristics. Dark olive green above ; yellowish beneath. Length five to seven inches. 
Description. Body elongated, slender, and tapering to a fine point at the insertion of the 
caudal fin. In recent specimens, it is hexangular before the vent or anal fin ; but in cabinet 
specimens, a slight carina is observed tm the middle of the belly. There are nineteen abdo- 
minal plates anterior to the vent; the first plate is pointed. Thirty-nine plates were counted 
behind the anal fin. Head depressed between the superciliary ridges, with a carina in the 
furrow, extending behind the eyes. Eyes proportionally large. Opercle large and rounded, 
with radiating strie. Jaws long, tubular, rounded, with a delicate ridge above. Mouth 
small, vertical; lower jaw longest. No vestiges of teeth. 
The dorsal fin long and low; the middie rays longest. It commences on the anterior third 
of the body, and contains forty rays. The pouch, when present, is under the middle of this 
fin. The pectorals small, obtusely pointed, and composed of fourteen rays ; its middle rays 
longest. Anal, when present, minute, and of three rays. Caudal rounded. 
Color. Dark olive green above ; yellowish beneath, and beautifully resplendent with green 
and gold on the sides and abdomen. These colors rapidly disappear after death, and are suc- 
ceeded by a uniform dull green, 
Length, 5°0 -7°0. 
Fin rays, D. 40; P. 14; A. 3; C. 9. 
This species, except in color, is closely allied to the S. fuscus of Storer. It is very com- 
mon in our waters, and is frequently taken as far up the Hudson as Sing-Sing, where it breeds 
in the slightly brackish water. It keeps chiefly among the aquatic plants. 
It is now a well established fact, that after the ova of the females of this genus are excluded, 
they are received and hatched in the pouches or false belly of the males. The males even 
carry the living young in this pouch, after they have been hatched there. In some species, 
the males have no pouch, but instead thereof, hemispherical depressions on the outer surface 
of the abdomen, into which the eggs of the female are placed. 
(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 
S. fuscus. (Storer, lc. p. 162.) Dull brown; lighter beneath. D, 38; P. 18; A. 3; C.9. Length 
six inches. Coast of Massachusetts. ; 
S. pechianus. (Ip. p. 163.) Olive brown, with transverse dusky bars; golden yellow beneath. D, 45. 
Length six to eight inches. Hab, with the preceding. 
Fauna — Parr 4. 41 
