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Bony fish

Double-ended Pipefish

Trachyrhamphus bicoarctatus

Also known as: Bent Pipefish, Bentstick Pipefish, Chocolate Pipefish, Longsnout Stickpipefish, Ringed Pipefish, Short-tailed Pipefish, Stickpipefish

VUVulnerableIUCN Red List, 2026
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Adult
@fishx6 · Lembeth Resort, Indonesia · June 20061 / 7
01

Overview

Found singly or in pairs, on soft mud and sand bottoms, over lagoons and seaward reefs, rich in algae and seagrass. This Pipefish has a long snout and its head is at a slight angle to the body hence "Bent-stick Pipefish".
They feed by sucking tiny invertebrates into their mouths.

Pipefish are like seahorses in that the male gives birth!
The female deposits their eggs after fertilisation into the males pouch located under their tail to incubate the eggs for one month before giving birth.

02

How to identify

COLOURS
Pattern
blotches
Body shape
stick
Behaviour
male carries eggspairssolitary

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Indo-West Pacific
  • Country only · 7
LIVES IN

Found singly or in pairs, on soft mud and sand bottoms, over lagoons and seaward reefs, rich in algae and seagrass.

RANGE
04

Adult photos 7

05

Discussion 4

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

4 comments

  • Wilko Pebesma· 14 Sept 2019

    Can you please tell me which species they are? I still haven't found out. Thank you.

    Helpful· 1
  • Wilko Pebesma· 11 Sept 2019

    I am wondering if the last 2 pictures are the same species. the snout is much shorter as the bend stick pipefish. I have seen both recently and am trying to find out which species the pipefish in the last 2 pictures is. Only consideration is that it might be juvenile as it is (the ones i saw) much smaller then the bend stick pipefish.

    Helpful· 1
  • fishx6Top Contributor· 16 Sept 2019

    We think these pipefish were in fact this one Slender Pipefish - Trachyrhamphus longirostris

    Helpful
  • fishx6Top Contributor· 12 Sept 2019

    We have reclassified those two pipefish!

    Helpful
ALL STAGES
FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

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Taxonomy

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderSyngnathiformes
  5. familySyngnathidae
  6. genusTrachyrhamphus
  7. speciesTrachyrhamphus bicoarctatus (Bleeker, 1857)

SourcesWoRMSFishBase

06

More in the family

Pipefishes-Seahorses (Syngnathidae)

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Benedetto's Pipefish

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Bigbelly Seahorse

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Black-breasted Pipefish

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Bluestripe Pipefish

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Brown-banded Pipefish

Corythoichthys amplexus

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Denise's Pygmy Seahorse

Hippocampus denise

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Dusky Pipefish

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Hedgehog Seahorse

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