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Tiger Pipefish Filicampus tigris Castelnau 1879
[CAAB 37 282064]

Distribution Map see an interactive map here (new window)

This large pipefish is relatively common in subtropical waters of Australia's east and west coasts. A relic population also occurs in the warmer waters of Spencer Gulf, South Australia.

Distribution, ecology and habitat:

An endemic temperate and subtropical species, the Tiger Pipefish inhabits areas near channels in inshore sheltered bays and estuaries with sandy or muddy bottoms, or along seagrass bed edges at 2-30m.

Size:

Attains 350 mm SL

Food and feeding:

Feeds on aggregations of mysid shrimps in sheltered bays adjacent to tidal channels.

Reproduction and early life history:

Reproduction: Ovoviviparous (gives birth to live young) and breeding occurs during the summer months. Eggs are brooded by the males in a semi-exposed pouch under the trunk. The pouch folds fall well short of the midline of the egg-filled pouch. Males may begin brooding at 175 mm SL. 

Eggs: Undescribed; several hundred red eggs are carried in the male brood pouch.

Larvae: Pouch young are 8 mm SL with 7-8 developed caudal fin rays; tail with single median dorsal fleshy process just in front of caudal fin base in most specimens; head and body with minute dark brown chromatophores, most abundant on the dorsal midline.

Characteristics:

Meristics: D 24-27; P 14-16: A 4; C 8; Trunk rings 17-19; Tail rings 34-38.

Head and body: Body slender, elongate, trunk moderately shallow, body posterior to dorsal fin markedly longer than that before dorsal fin; ridges on head and body without prominent denticulations; head aligned with body; snout moderately long, snout length 38-50% HL, depth 12-35% snout length; dermal flaps usually on head and/or body in juveniles, usually absent from head of adults.

Fins: Dorsal-fin base of moderate length, positioned centrally on back; anal fin tiny, below centre of dorsal fin; caudal fin very small, rounded; pectoral fins small.

Colour:

Body greenish brown, usually with 10-12 dark bluish bands, each about one ring wide, crossing top and sides of trunk, sometimes encircling tail; each trunk ring usually with a semicircular, iridescent, silvery spot on each side just above the inferior ridge; side of head behind snout usually with diagonal dark bars in subadults and adults, sometimes absent in young.

Similar species:

This monotypic species is most closely related to members of the tropical Indo-West pacific genus Trachyrhamphus.

Fisheries:

None

Conservation Status:

National: Marine listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

State: Listed as protected under New South Wales and South Australian Fisheries Management Acts.

Remarks:

The west coast population differs from that of the east coast in usually having 19 rather than 18 trunk rings.

Other common names:

Tentacled Pipefish

Original citation:

Syngnathus tigris Castelnau 1879, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (1)3(4): 397, Port Jackson, NSW.

Etymology:

Filicampus is from the Latin, filum meaning thread and the Greek, kampe for bent or curvature. The specific name tigris is from the Latin tigris for tiger in reference to the striped colour pattern.

References:

Castelnau, F.L. 1879. Essay on the ichthyology of Port Jackson. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (1)3(4): 347-402.

Dawson, C.E. 1977. Synopsis of Syngnathine pipefishes usually referred to the genus Ichthyocampus Kaup, with description of new genera and species. Bull. Mar. Sci. 27(4): 595-650.

Dawson, C.E. 1985. Indo-Pacific Pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi. 230 pp.

Dawson C.E., F.Yasuda & C. Imai. 1979. Elongate dermal appendages in species of Yozia (Syngnathidae) with remarks on Trachyrhamphus. Japan. J. Ichthyol. 25(4): 244-250.

Gomon, M.F. 1994. Family Syngnathidae. pp. 440-474, In: Gomon, M.F., C.J.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (eds). The fishes of Australia's south coast. State Print, Adelaide: 992 pp, 810 figs.

Hoese, D.F., D.J. Bray, J.R. Paxton & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35, ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia, 2178 pp.

Kendrick, A.J. & G.A. Hyndes. 2003. Patterns in the abundance and size distribution of syngnathid fishes among habitats in a seagrass-dominated marine environment. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 57: 631-640.

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 437 pp.

Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Seahorses, Pipefishes and their Relatives. TMC Publishing, Chorleywood, UK, 240 pp.

Pogonoski, J.J., D.A. Pollard & J.R. Paxton. 2002. Conservation Overview and Action Plan for Australian Threatened and Potentially Threatened Marine and Estuarine Fishes, Environment Australia, Canberra, 375 pp.

Whiteman, E.A. & I.M. Côté. 2004. Monogamy in marine fishes. Biol. Rev. 79: 351-375.