Halicampus macrorhynchus

Halicampus macrorhynchus is a small marine fish of the pipefish family, Syngnathidae, known by the common names ornate pipefish, whiskered pipefish and winged pipefish. It reaches a maximum length of about 18 centimetres and has a thin, elongate body with reduced fins that are hard to see. Its colour shifts from reddish through brownish, greenish and yellowish to match its surroundings, and the back carries small skin growths, usually eight, along with irregular whitish or pinkish spots. The head is small, with a long snout whose tip can be covered in skin growths. The species is widespread in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific, from the east coast of Africa and the Red Sea to the Solomon Islands, and from southern Japan to the Queensland region of Australia. It lives close to the bottom between the surface and 25 metres depth, preferring reef, sandy bottom or coral rubble with algae or debris where it can hide. Like other pipefishes it has a benthic lifestyle and is ovoviviparous: after courtship the female transfers her eggs to skin folds on the male belly, where he fertilizes and protects them during incubation. It is a carnivore that sucks up small crustaceans and other invertebrates through its tubular snout.