Eastern Fantail Pipefish, Doryhampus melanopleura

Eastern Fantail Pipefish, Doryhampus melanopleura. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, April 2026. Photographs and identifications courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

The Eastern Fantail Pipefish, Doryhampus melanopleura, is a member of the Pipefish and Seahorse or Syngnathidae Family, that is also known as the Bluestripe Pipefish and the Fantail Pipefish and in Mexico as pez-pipa chica oriental and pez-pipa enana. Note: the taxonomy of this species is currently under review. At present they are considered to be the same species that is found in the central and western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean. New genetic work that the fish found in the Eastern Tropical Pacific are one and possibly two endemic species Doryhampus californiensis and Doryhampus paulus. Globally, there are nine species in the Doryhampus Genus, with this species being the only one found in Mexican waters and that in the Pacific Ocean.

The Eastern Fantail Pipefish has a thin elongated body with a long snout. They vary in color from a slate gray with yellow tinges in the head and caudal fin to reddish to brown with a blue stripe on the upper part of the body and a black stripe that extends from the snout that continues behind the eye. They have 17 to 19 body rings with the first trunk ring being much longer than the second and 13 to 17 caudal rings. The caudal fin is black with one or more orange-red spots in the center with a white margin. Their anal fin has 4 rays; their caudal fin is a large oval with 10 rays; their dorsal fin originates under the trunk and has 21 to 29 rays; and their pectoral fin have 19 to 23 rays. They do not have anal and pelvic fins. They have a central spiny ridge that extends along the side of the body.

The Eastern Fantail Pipefish is a demersal species that is found within rocky and coral reefs at depths up to 45 m (150 feet). They reach a maximum of 7 cm (2.8 inches) in length. They consume small benthic and planktonic crustaceans and gammarid shrimp. Reproduction is ovoviviparous and involves females depositing eggs in the male’s broom pouch which is found under the tail. The Eastern Fantail Pipefish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, diet, growth, habitat, longevity, movement patterns, and reproduction.

The Eastern Fantail Pipefish is found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from the west coast of the Baja Peninsula.

The Bluestripe Pipefish can be confused with the Barcheek Pipefish, Syngnathus californiensis (dark stripe that extends from the chin to the tail), the Barred Pipefish, Syngnathus californiensis (long and slender with 60 to 70 narrow rings), and the Cortez Pipefish, Syngnathus carinatus (chain link pattern on the sides).

From a conservation perspective the Eastern Fantail Pipefish has not been formally evaluated. Their long-term viability is threatened by the degradation of habitat from coastal development.