Avid naturalist and East London resident Rory Haschick continues to delight with interesting reports. On Saturday 1st April 2023 he was notified about an unusual pipefish seen at a well known dive spot called ‘Three Sisters’. The museum data base has no record of this particular species identified as a robust ghost pipefish (Solenostomus cyanopterus).
Robust ghost pipefish recorded by Jane Fleishman at Bonza Bay, East London (South Africa)
One of the most intriguing facts about this species is its ability to change colours over several hours thus having a very varied appearance and its general fin and body shape allow it to blend in by looking like a piece of seagrass. If you look at the photograph above it is easy to note why it is also sometimes called the squaretail ghost pipefish. Reaching a length of up to 17 cm makes it the largest of all the ghost pipefish species. The mouth is positioned at the end of a long snout and the jaws are mostly toothless (see X-ray images below [taken from Wikipedia]). They normally suck up their prey whole (macro benthic invertebrates). It has a long tail in comparison to the rest of its body.
Rory reports that the fish was recorded at a depth of about 18 m by Jane Fleishman and he last recalls a specimen being caught by a diver at Blue Bend (Nahoon River mouth) in 1988. The image below illustrates the locality where Jane was diving which is about 580 m offshore along the Bonza Bay coast just east of the Qinira River mouth.
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