Flagtail pipefish

Doryrhamphus Dunckerocampus
Doryrhamphus japonicus
Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gasterosteiformes
Family:	Syngnathidae
Subfamily:	Syngnathinae
Genera
Doryrhamphus Kaup, 1856 Dunckerocampus Whitley, 1933

Doryrhamphus and Dunckerocampus, popularly known as flagtail pipefish,^[1] are two genera of fishes in the Syngnathidae family. They are found in warm, relatively shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific, with a single species, D. paulus, in the eastern Pacific.^[2] Most of these pipefishes are very colourful, and are fairly popular in the marine aquarium hobby despite requiring special care and not being recommended for beginners.^[1][3]

Their habit of flashing the distinctly patterned tails during courtship and other displays have earned them their English popular name.^[1] Adults are highly territorial and usually live in pairs.^[1][3] They feed on tiny crustaceans and other small animals, and most species from the genus Doryrhamphus will sometimes act as cleaners.^[3]

Description

Doryrhamphus have a maximum length of 14 centimetres (5.5 in) or less, with D. janssi being the only species that surpasses 8.5 centimetres (3.3 in).^[2][4] Most species have a horizontal blue line along their body, and all have a whitish-edged tail that is marked contrastingly with black, red or yellow.^[2][4]

Dunckerocampus are more elongated and have a maximum length between 10 and 20 centimetres (3.9 and 7.9 in), with D. chapmani being the only species with a maximum length below 15 centimetres (5.9 in).^[2][4] Their tail is red with a whitish edge, and in some species there is a white or yellow spot in the center.^[2][4] All except D. baldwini (and a similar, but possibly undescribed species from the eastern Indian Ocean) have vertical red/brown and yellow/white stripes on their body.^[2][4]

Taxonomy

Considerable taxonomic confusion exists in these genera, both because a number of scientifically undescribed species remain and some of the already described species are variable.^[2][5]

The first to recognise the species now placed in Dunckerocampus as worthy of a separate genus was the German ichthyologist George Duncker, and for this reason he coined Acanthognathus in 1912.^[6] However, unbeknown to him that name was preoccupied by a genus of ants.^[7][8] The replacement name Dunckerocampus honours Duncker.^[9]

Following a review in 1985, Dunckerocampus was generally considered a subgenus of Doryrhamphus,^[10] but in 1998 it was recommended that Dunckerocampus again should be a genus, and in addition to the species formerly placed in it, it should include the newly described D. boylei.^[11] When described in 2004, D. naia was also placed in this genus.^[12] FishBase do recognise Dunckerocampus, but only for the two species recently described in that genus,^[13] while they have not moved other species that belong in this genus (including its type species, D. dactyliophorus),^{[2][5][11][12][14]} which instead are retained in Doryrhamphus^[15] (this treatment is impossible, as it would result in Dunckerocampus being a junior synonym of Doryrhamphus).^[8]

Species

Species and genera follow most recent reviews of this group.^{[2][5][11][12][14]} Species marked with a star* after the scientific name are placed in Doryrhamphus rather than Dunckerocampus by FishBase.^[15]

• Genus Doryrhamphus:
  • Doryrhamphus aurolineatus Randall & Earle, 1994
  • Narrowstripe pipefish, Doryrhamphus bicarinatus Dawson, 1981
  • Bluestripe pipefish, Doryrhamphus excisus Kaup, 1856
  • Janss' pipefish, Doryrhamphus janssi (Herald & Randall, 1972)
  • Honshu pipefish, Doryrhamphus japonicus Araga & Yoshino, 1975
  • Masthead Island pipefish, Doryrhamphus malus (Whitley, 1954)
  • Barhead pipefish, Doryrhamphus melanopleura (Bleeker 1858)
  • Negros pipefish, Doryrhamphus negrosensis Herre, 1934
  • Doryrhamphus paulus Fritzsche, 1980

• Genus Dunckerocampus:
  • Redstripe pipefish, Dunckerocampus baldwini* (Herald & Randall, 1972)
  • Broad-banded Pipefish, Dunckerocampus boylei Kuiter, 1998
  • Glowtail pipefish, Dunckerocampus chapmani* Herald, 1953
  • Ringed pipefish, Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus* (Bleeker, 1853)
  • Many-banded pipefish, Dunckerocampus multiannulatus* (Regan, 1903)
  • Dunckerocampus naia Allen & Kuiter, 2004
  • Yellowbanded pipefish, Dunckerocampus pessuliferus* Fowler, 1938

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Weiss, T. (2005). Flagtail Pipefish In The Home Aquarium. Fusedjaw
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Kuiter, R. H. (2003). Seahorses, Pipefishes, and their relatives. 2nd edition. TMC Publishing. Chorleywood. ISBN 0953909743
3. ^ ^{a b c} Schultz III, H. C. (2003). There's More to Pipes Than Just PVC: The Genus Doryrhamphus and Other Pipefish. Reefkeeping
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} Kuiter R. H., & H. Debelius (2007). World Atlas of Marine Fishes. 2nd edition. IKAN Unterwasserarchiv. ISBN 9783925919770.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Kuiter, R. H. (2009). Seahorses and their relatives. Aquatic Photographics, Seaford, Australia. ISBN 978-0-9775372-1-1
6. ^ Duncker, G. (1912). Die Gattungen der Syngnathidae. Mitteilungen Naturhist. Museum Hamburg 29: 219-240.
7. ^ Mayr, G. (1887). Südamerikanische Formiciden. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 37: 511-632.
8. ^ ^{a b} Ride, W.D.L, H.G. Cogger, C. Dupuis, O. Kraus, A. Minelli, F. C. Thompson & P.K. Tubbs, eds. (1999). International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. ISBN 0853010064
9. ^ Whitley, G. P. (1933). Studies in ichthyology. No. 7. Records of the Australian Museum v. 19 (1): 60-112, Pls. 11-15.
10. ^ Dawson, C. E. (1985). Indo-Pacific pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). Gulf Coast Research Lab., Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Indo-Pacific pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). i-vi + 1-230.
11. ^ ^{a b c} Kuiter, R. H. (1998). Pipefishes of the syngnathid genus Dunckerocampus (Sygnathiformes: Syngnathidae), with a description of a new species from the Indian Ocean. Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 3(2): 81-84.
12. ^ ^{a b c} Allen, G. R., & R. H. Kuiter. (2004). Dunckerocampus naia, a new species of pipefish (Pisces: Syngnathidae) from the western Pacific. Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 9(1): 1-6.
13. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). Species of Dunckerocampus in FishBase. December 2009 version.
14. ^ ^{a b} Eschmeyer, W.N., & R. Fricke, eds. (2009). Catalog of Fishes. Online version, 9 September 2009.
15. ^ ^{a b} Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). Species of Doryrhamphus in FishBase. December 2009 version.