Order Syngnathiformes Family Syngnathidae(pipefishes and seahorses) Honshu pipefish Doryrhamphus japonicus(Araga & Yoshino, 1975). Max length/8.5 cm TL Korean name/bu-chae-kko-ri-sil-go-gi(부채꼬리실고기) Japanese name/コギリヨウジ(Nokogiri-yôji) Chinese name/日本海龍, 日本矛吻海龍 D/spines 0, soft rays 21-23, A/spines 0, soft rays 3~4. P1/19~23. Caudal/10
Distribution; Western Pacific/Jeju Island of Korea, southern Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Sulawesi(Indonesia), Papua New Guinea(Milne Bay). General; Body is thin and long like chopstick and covered with bony plates. Snout is long and length is shorter than length from the rear edge of eye to origin of pectoral fin. Body is cylindrical. Scales absent. The head and entire body are covered with body rings made of bony plates. The number of body rings in front of anal fin is 19-20, and on the tail is 14-15. The dorsal fin is located at posterior body and a very small anal fin on the opposite side. Absent in pelvic fins. Lateral trunk ridge continuous with inferior tail ridge. The ventral ridge is not continuous with the lower ridge of caudal peduncle. Three serrated ridges dorsally on snout, the median ridge heavily serrated. No ventrolateral projection on the snout. The anus is located right in front of the anal fin.
At first glance, it appears that there is a horizontal deep blue line in the center of the body, and the top and bottom of the blue line are orange-yellow(or yellow), but if you look closely, there are blackish lines between the lines, making a total of 7 stripes. The upper edge of the entire body is very narrowly blackish; below it, the upper parts of head and body are orange-yellow(or yellow). The next below, a deep blue lateral line that runs through the center of the body from the tip of the snout to the caudal peduncle, and this blue line accompanies narrow blackish line at both above and below. Again, the lower abdomen, from below the eye to tail peduncle is orange-yellow with wide width. Finally, the lower edge of the abdomen is narrowly dark. The caudal fin is round with black background, and with narrow, light-colored edge, and has one to four irregularly shaped orange-yellow blotches inside. The dorsal fin, anal fin, and pectoral fin are transparent.
Inhabits small caves in sublittoral rocky reefs. Reported from tide pools to depths of at least 25 m offshore, but mostly seen in shallow depths below 10 metres. An active cleaner that shares crevices with shrimps, large mud crabs and sometimes moray eels. Solitary or in pairs near sponges and Diadema sea urchins. The male carries the eggs in brood pouch on his abdomen and then gives birth to the young. Spawns from the end of May to September. They breed monogamously. This is a species rarely observed on the southern coast of Jeju Island(Korea). It was also discovered in Dokdo island, the sea far east of the central Korean peninsula, in December 2020.
|