Greater pipefish
(Syngnathus acus)
General data
The greater pipefish has a long segmented armoured body, angular in cross section and stretching up 45 cm long with its stiff appearance. It ranges a color brown to green in with broad alternating light and dark hue along it. Its customized by a long snout with mouth on end and a slight hump on the top of the body just behind the eyes.
The fish is generally 33 cm to 35 cm in length with a reported maximum length of 47 cm.
They are almost square in each segment of the body, and known to feel rigid when handled. The greater pipefish has distinctive body rings which are a sandy brown with darker bars covering his body in between.
Distribution
Eastern Atlantic: Norway, Faroes and British Isles to Western Sahara, Senegambia, and from Namibia to Cape of Good Hope and northward to the coast of Zululand in the western Indian Ocean. Also throughout the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black seas.
Despite literature records, occurrence in the Indo-Pacific outside South African waters lacks conclusive evidence.
