136 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



Dwellers on the west and south-west coasts of Great Britain 

 may add to the aquarium the very interesting pipe-fishes, of 

 which we have several species. In the south-west of England 

 the great pipe-fish (Syngnathus acus) is not uncommon. It 

 reaches a length of a foot or more, and may be recognised by 

 the long slender body, ending in an elongated tubular snout 

 whose jaws are devoid of teeth. The body is clothed with plates 

 instead of bearing scales, the gills are small tufts, and the male 

 carries the eggs about with him in a pouch in the tail region. 

 The pipe-fishes are feeble swimmers, and their natural habitat 

 is rock pools, where they pick up food particles out of the narrow 

 crevices. Their swaying bodies have often a curious resemblance 

 to seaweed, which must help to protect them from their enemies. 

 Related is the sea-horse, rarely found off the coasts of southern 

 England and Ireland, but not uncommon in the Channel Islands. 



