Banded pipefish

[Erwin Kodiat]

Just back from a 2-days trip and in one of the dive sites, Kubu, Karangasem, Bali, a friend of mine pointed me a small (unidentified?) banded pipefish, the length approximately 5 centimeters and the color is solid brown. Unfortunately I did not photograph it. I can not identify what it is. Tried to browse all over the Internet mostly they have black ring along the body. Can anybody help me identify this?

 

[ScottyK]

Erwin- Even with a pic, pipefish are tough to ID. There are over 200 species, and most look very similar. Your other problem is that they can adjust their color and the intensity of their banding.

There is a local pipefish species that I see all the time up here when we snorkel the estuaries. I know it's one species, but I've seen them showing everything from solid pale white, to chocolate brown with dark black stripes.

Anyway, even if you don't ID it, I hope you enjoyed seeing one. They're one of my favorites.

Scott