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Deepbody Pipefish Kaupus costatus Waite & Hale 1921
[CAAB 37 282014]

Distribution Map see an interactive map here (new window)

The brightly colored Deepbody Pipefish is markedly sexually dimorphic with females having much deeper bodies than males.

Distribution, ecology and habitat:

Endemic to temperate southern Australian waters; inhabits sheltered intertidal areas with algae and seagrass, especially in species Zostera to 10 m.

Size:

Reaches 135 mm TL.

Food and feeding:

Unknown.

Reproduction and early life history:

Reproduction: Ovoviviparous (gives birth to live young) and breed in during late Spring and Summer. The eggs are brooded by the males in an enclosed pouch on the underside of the tail just behind anal fin. The pouch has thick skin and folds along the ventral midline with overlapping and interlocking pouch flaps which completely cover the developing eggsbrood; males likely to be brooding at 86.5 mm SL.

Eggs: Not described; brood size small, from 3- 25 eggs.

Larvae: Born at 15 mm TL.

Characteristics:

Meristics: D 30-36; A 3-4; P 9-11; C 7-10 (usually 9-10);Trunk rings 16-18; Tail rings 35-38; Subdorsal rings 5.75-4.25 + 2.50-4.50 = 8.00-9.25.

Head and body: Body very elongate, trunk expanded strongly dorsoventrally in adult females, depth much greater than in males; head aligned with body; snout of moderate length, 32-40% HL, depth 32-56% snout length; median dorsal snout ridge confluent with supraorbital ridges; opercular ridge straight, crossing half or more of opercles in subadults and adults; superior trunk ridge and superior tail ridge discontinuous near rear of dorsal-fin base; inferior trunk ridge and inferior tail ridge continuous; lateral trunk ridge not confluent with tail ridges; tail not prehensile.

Fins: Dorsal fin much closer to head than to tip of tail, base moderately long; anal fin tiny, below rear half of dorsal fin; caudal fin small, rounded; pectoral fin present.

Colour:

Red or reddish brown with tiny blue, yellow and white dots dorsally; head and tail with fine wavy marks of similar colours. Subadults and adult males sometimes with narrow, near-black, midlateral stripe on anterior half of tail. Adult females with bluish streaks, bars and small ocelli above lateral trunk ridge, and with prominent blue on each trunk ring below lateral ridge.

Similar species:

None, Kaupus is a monotypic genus endemic to southern Australia. The strongly expanded trunk in adult females is unique.

Fisheries:

Sometimes collected for the aquarium trade.

Conservation Status:

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

State: All species of the Syngnathidae are protected under New South Wales, Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian Fisheries Management Acts.

Remarks:

K. costatus is very habitat specific, and is only found in quiet seagrass beds in silty yet clear-water environments. The decline of Zostera seagrass habitats has contributed to the rarity of this species.

Other common names:

Deep-bodied Pipefish, Deep-body Pipefish.

Original citation:

Leptonotus costatus Waite & Hale  1921,  Rec. S. Aust. Mus. 1(4): 301, fig. 43, Spencer Gulf, South Australia.

Etymology:

The genus is named Kaupus for ichthyologist Johann Jakob Kaup, 1827, author of "Zoologische Monographien".

References:

Coleman N. (1980) Australian Sea Fishes - South of 30^oS. Doubleday Australia, Lane Cove NSW.

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

Gomon M.F. (1994). Family Syngnathidae. pp. 440-474 figs 391-426 in Gomon M.F., Glover C.J.M. & Kuiter R.H. (eds) The fishes of Australia's south coast. Adelaide: State Print 992 pp 810 figs.

Hoese DF, Bray DJ, Paxton JR & Allen GR (2006). Fishes. In Beesley PL & Wells A (eds) Zoological catalogue of Australia. Volume 35 ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia Part 1, pp xxiv 1-670; Part 2, pp xxi 671-1472; Part 3 pp xxi 1473-2178

Kuiter R.H. (1993) Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Crawford House Press, Bathurst 437pp [87]

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

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