Acentronura

Acentronura breviperula

Acentronura is a species-poor pipefish genus, which occurs in the Red Sea and the western Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa to Japan and Australia.

Features

Acentronura species are 5.5 to 6.5 cm long, have a very long-drawn, thin body and no tail fin. Instead, they have, like the seahorse (Hippocampus ), a prehensile tail, which puts them in a position to hold on to water plants or algae. In their outward appearance they stand between pipefish and seahorses, the slender females are more like the pipefish, the males that have a brood pouch, wide and are built more like a seahorse. The brood pouch of the male is below the tail and behind the anus. Like all pipefish is Acentronura armored by annularly arranged bone plates. The dorsal fin is supported by 16 to 17 fin rays.

Acentronura species inhabit mainly soft soils with low algae growth. In contrast to the seahorses they do not float upright and not wear her head at a 90 ° angle bent to the body, but keep it in line with the body. Much like the scraps of fish Acentronura the species are well camouflaged by skin growths and their skin also allows the algae nursery.

Species

There are three recognized types:

• Acentronura breviperula Fraser -Brunner & Whitley, 1949
• Acentronura gracilissima ( Temminck & Schlegel, 1850)
• Acentronura tentaculata Günther, 1870

Outer systematics

Acentronura and two other genera ( Amphelikturus, Idiotropiscis ) are referred to in German as a dwarf - Nadelpferdchen and seem to be a link between the ordinary pipefish and seahorses to be. They are classified in a separate subfamily, the Acentronurinae, or equal to the assigned Hippocampinae family, which therefore no longer includes only the seahorse and is therefore no longer monotypic. Maybe they are the sister group of seahorses.