869 



SNAKE PIPEFISH. 



Syngnathus ophidion, Jenyns; Manual, p. 487. 



" " Yarrbll; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 445. 



This is not only a common fish at some seasons, but at 

 times it abounds in incalculable numbers from near the shore 

 to several miles in the open sea; and it is then they appear 

 to perform a perhaps limited migration or change of quarters; 

 for they swarm at the surface in fine weather from the early 

 part of summer to its declension; but after this time they are 

 not seen, and probably have gone to the bottom, and into 

 deeper water. When on our coast their actions are amusing, 

 as with their slender and prehensile tail they lay hold of some 

 loose and floating object; with the aid of which, and the anterior 

 portion of the body free, they steer their wandering course by 

 the waving action of the dorsal fin. A slip of floating sea-weed, 

 a rope, the mark line of a crab-pot, or the entangled meshes 

 of a net, will serve them for support and rest, and thus they 

 are kept at the surface with little effort; but they are liable to 

 be devoured by ravenous fishes, and the stomach of a Pollack 

 has been found filled with them. 



The line of the under part of the body of the male, from 

 the vent forward, is, as in the Ocean Pipefish, the place where 

 the ova are affixed in something like order; and there appears 

 to exist in that part a tendency to organization, which is 

 brought into exercise on this occasion; for it is certain that 

 there is something more than a mere adhesion of contact between 

 the grains of roe and the surface on which they lie; since the 

 skin is raised round each of the grains like a cup, and they 

 are not easily removed from it. Within the female when 

 procreant, the slender pair of ovaries exceed three inches in 

 length, and connected with these I have observed to hang 



