Syngnathus watermeyeri

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Family : Pipefishes and seahorses ; Occurs in rivers with tidal influence. Found in association with submerged aquatic macrophytes , primarily the eelgrass Zostera capensis[1]. Sympatric with Syngnathus acus in the eelgrass beds[1].

Critically Endangered

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Ecology: Reproduction
The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch which is found under the tail (Breder and Rosen 1966). Sexual maturity is attained at approximately 10 cm standard length with males retaining up to 44 embryos. Reproductively active specimens were collected in the Kariega estuary during late September (Whitfield 1995). The life cycle is completed within the estuary.

Habitat
S. watermeyeri occurs in brackish, tidal areas of rivers and is found primarily in association with the eelgrass Zostera capensis and Ruppia cirrhosa, where it feeds almost exclusively on zooplankton (Whitfield 1995). [2].

List of Habitats :

•     9     Marine Neritic   
  
•     9.10     Marine Neritic - Estuaries   
[more info]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Syngnathus watermayeri • Syngnathus watermayeri Smith • Syngnathus watermayeri Smith, 1963 • Syngnathus watermeyeri Smith

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 08-Jan-1997

Similar Species

Members of the genus Syngnathus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 80 species and subspecies in this genus:

S. abaster (Black-Striped Pipefish) · S. acus (Narrowsnouted Pipefish) · S. aequoreus (Snake Pipe-Fish) · S. affinis (Texas Pipefish) · S. altirostris (Blackchinned Pipefish) · S. analicarens (Pink Pipefish) · S. andersonii (Anderson's Short-Nosed Pipefish) · S. argulus (Flat-Nosed Pipepish) · S. auliscus (Barred Needlefish) · S. balli (Roughridge Pipefish) · S. biaculeatus (Double-Ended Pipefish) · S. bicoarctatus (Short-Tailed Pipefish) · S. blainvilleanus (Deep-Bodied Pipefish) · S. blainvillianus (Deepbodied Pipefish) · S. boaja (Long-Snouted Pipefish) · S. brachycephalus (Crested Pipefish) · S. brachysoma (Short-Bodied Pipefish) · S. brachyurus (Short-Tailed Pipefish) · S. californiensis (Great Pipefish) · S. californiensis leptorhynchus (Kelp Pipefish) · S. carce (Freshwater Pipefish) · S. caribbaeus (Caribbean Pipefish) · S. carinatus (Cortez Pipefish) · S. cinctus (Girdled Pipefish) · S. crinitus (West Indian Pipefish) · S. cuncalus (Crocodile-Tooth Pipefish) · S. cyanospilos (Blue-Speckled Pipefish) · S. cyanospilus (Bluespeckled Pipefish) · S. dactyliophorus (D'Arros Pipefish) · S. deocata (Deocata Pipefish) · S. djarong (Slender Pipefish) · S. dunckeri (Duncker's Pipefish) · S. elucens (Shortfin Pipefish) · S. euchrous (Chocolate Pipefish) · S. exilis (Barcheek Pipefish) · S. fasciolatus (Corrugated Pipefish) · S. fistulatus (Pivothead Pipefish) · S. flavofasciatus (Network Pipefish) · S. floridae (Florida Pipefish) · S. folletti (Southern Pipefish) · S. fuscus (Northern Pipefish) · S. griseolineatus (Bay Pipefish) · S. haematopterus (Yellow-Streaked Pipefish) · S. hardwickii (Hardwicke's Pipefish) · S. heterosoma (Dwarf Pipefish) · S. hippocampus (Short-Snouted Seahorse) · S. hubbsi (Cheasapeake Dusky Pipefish) · S. insulae (Guadalupe Pipefish) · S. leiaspis (Barhead Pipefish) · S. leptorhynchus (Slendernosed Pipefish) · S. louisianae (Louisiana Pipefish) · S. lumbriciformis (Worm Pipe-Fish) · S. macrobrachium (Large-Fin Pipefish) · S. makaxi (Yucatan Pipefish) · S. manadensis (Short-Tailed Pipefish) · S. margaritifer (Mother-Of-Pearl Pipefish) · S. maxweberi (Maxweber's Pipefish) · S. mento (Red Pipefish) · S. modestus (Mollison's Pipefish) · S. nitidus (Longsnouted Pipefish) · S. ophidion (Straight-Nosed Pipe-Fish) · S. pelagicus (Pelagic Pipefish) · S. penicillus (Steep-Nosed Pipefish) · S. phillipi (Port Phillips Pipefish) · S. poecilolaemus (Australian Long-Snouted Pipefish) · S. retzii (Melanesian Stream Pipefish) · S. rostellatus (Nilsons Deepsea Dogfish) · S. schlegeli (Seaweed Pipefish) · S. schleglei (Clipperton Angelfish) · S. scovelli (Scovell's Pipefish) · S. serratus (Crested Pipefish) · S. sohlegli (Bulldog Lightfish) · S. springeri (Bull Pipefish) · S. taenionotus (Darkflank Pipefish) · S. tenuirostris (Narrow-Snouted Pipefish) · S. tetrophthalmus (Trunk-Barred Pipefish) · S. tigris (Tucker's Pipefish) · S. typhle (High-Snouted Pipefish) · S. viridis (Australian Banded Pipe) · S. watermeyeri (River Pipefish)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B (editors and compilers). 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
• Breder, C.M. and Rosen, D.E. 1966. Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey, USA.
• Cowley, P.D. 1998. Fish population dynamics in a temporarily open/closed South African estuary. Rhodes University.
• Cowley, P.D., Whitfield A.K. 2001. Ichthyofaunal characteristics of a typical temporarily open/closed estuary on the southeast coast of South Africa. Ichthyol Bull Smith Inst Ichthyol 71: 1-19.
• Dawson, C.E. (1986). Syngnathidae. p. 445-458. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
• Groombridge, B. (ed.) 1994. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
• Groombridge, B. (ed.). 1994. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1988. 1988 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• IUCN. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2010.2). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 29 June 2010).
• James, N.C., Whitfield, A.K. and Cowley, P.D. 2008. Long-term stability of the fish assemblages in a warm-temperate South African estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 76: 723-738.
• McMillan, C.B. 1999 Three new species of hagfish (Myxinidae, Eptatretus) from the Galápagos Islands. Fish. Bull. 97:110-117.
• Shiino, Sueo M. 1976. List of Common Names of Fishes of the World, Those Prevailing among English-speaking Nations. Science Report of Shima Marineland, no. 4. Shima Marineland. Kashikojima, Shima, Mie, Japan. 262.
• Vorwerk, P.D., Froneman, P.W., Paterson, A.W. and Whitfield A.K. 2008. Fish community response to increased river flow in the Kariega Estuary, a freshwater-deprived, permanently open souther African system. African Journal of Aquatic Science 33: 189-200.
• Whitfield, A.K. 1995. Threatened fishes of the world: Syngnathus watermeyeri Smith, 1983 (Syngnathidae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 43: 152.
• Whitfield, A.K. and Bruton, M.N. 1996. Extinction of the river pipefish Syngnathus watermeyeri in the Eastern Cape Province, SouthAfrica. South African Journal of Zoology 92: 59-61.

Notes

Contributors

• Bills, R. 1996. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Costa, Wilson J.E.M. (from FishBase).
• FishBase 2006.
• FishBase. Release date: January 5, 2010
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 04, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 2 providers.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• Sorensen, M. & Bills, R. 1996. Syngnathus watermeyeri. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 05February2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 04, 2008:

• FishBase: FishBase DiGIR Provider - Philippine Server
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: iziko South African Museum - Fish Collection
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity - Fish Collection (AfrOBIS)

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 139522
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-31788
• Fishbase Species ID: 6304
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 166486
• IUCN ID: 244735
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 126103

Footnotes

1. Whitfield, A.K. (1995). Threatened fishes of the world: Syngnathus watermeyeri Smith, 1963 (Syngnathidae). Environ. Biol. Fish. 43(2):152. [back]
2. Sorensen, M. & Bills, R. 1996. Syngnathus watermeyeri. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.