NOTES ON SOME AUSTRALIAN PIPE-FISHES. 



By ALLAN R. McCULLOCH, Zoologist, Australian Museum. 



I. The remarkable sexual dimorphism of STIGMATOPHORA NIGRA, Kaup, 



(Figures 1-3.) 



During the recent Easter encampment of the Field Naturalists' Club of Tasmania, a small 

 collection of fishes was made which includes two species of Stigmatophorttj S. argits, Richard- 

 son and S. nigra, Kaup. They are each represented by ovigerous females and males with their 

 pouches filled with more or less developed eggs. The specimens of i'. argus do not offer any 

 very striking differences in the form of the body in the two sexes, but in S. nigra the male is 

 subcylindrical and almost without ornamentation, while his mate is broad and depressed, with 

 rich pink and black markings. They are so dissimilar in their appearance that one can only be 

 sure of their specific identity after a critical comparison of all their characters. 



As is usual in the family Syngnathidac, the males each have a well-developed brood-pouch, 

 which is placed on the lower surface of the tail behind the vent (fig. 3). It opens along the 

 median-line, and eggs, or young in an advanced stage of development can be seen within. The 

 latter are closely curled within the egg-capsules, but when extracted and laid out straight they 

 measure about 11 mm. in length. They have large heads with enormous black eyes, and their 

 snouts are very short and broad; their bodies are transversely banded with bars of blackish 

 pigment spots. The females, on the other hand, have no brood pouches, but if the abdomen be 

 opened, ovaries containing large eggs are seen on either side of the body near the vent. 



STIGMATOPHORA XIGRA, Kaup. 



Stigmatophora nigra, Kaup, Cat. Lophobr. Fish. Brit. Mus.. 1S56, p. 53. Id., Gunther, Brit. Mus. 

 Cat. Fish., viii., 1870, p. 190. Id., Castelnau, Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict., i., 1872, p.201, and ii., 

 1873, p.39. Id.. Castelnau, Vict. Offic. Rec. Philad. Exhib., 1875, p.a8, and Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 N.S. Wales, hi., 1879, P-355- Id., Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, vi., 1881, p.297. Id., 

 Johnston, Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasm., 1882 (1883) p. 134, and 1890 (1891), p.37. Id., Duncker, 

 Faun. Sudwest-Austr., ii., 1909, p. 239. Id., Ogilby, Mem. Qid. Mus., i., 1912, p.36. 



Stigmatophora boot's, Castelnau, Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict., i., 1872, p. 203. Id., Macleay, Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. N.S. Wales, vi., 1881, p.298. 



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Fig. 1. Side view of female. 



Fig. 2, Ventral surface of female. 



Fig, 3. Ventral surface of male, 



