''Dunckerocampus chapmani'' (glowtail pipefish, or New Caledonian pipefish) is a species of marine fish of the family
Syngnathidae
The Syngnathidae is a family of fish which includes seahorses, pipefishes, and seadragons ('' Phycodurus'' and '' Phyllopteryx''). The name is derived from grc, σύν (), meaning "together", and (), meaning "jaw". The fused jaw is one of the ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to New Caledonia, where it inhabits shallow lagoons to depths of (although more commonly found at ).
It has only been recorded in the vicinity of the city of
Noumea.
It can grow to lengths of .
[Dawson, C.E., 1985. Indo-Pacific pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA] It is expected to feed on small parasitic
crustaceans
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gr ...
that grow on other fishes, similar to most other members of its genus. This species is
ovoviviparous
Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...
, with males carrying eggs and giving birth to live young. The eggs of ''D. chapmani'' are particularly large, meaning that only 30 per brood are produced, which is quite low for a pipefish. Males may brood at .
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References
Further reading
Encyclopedia of Life
chapmani
Marine fish
Fish described in 1953
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