Blacksided Pipefish
Doryrhamphus japonicus
- Usual depth1–7 m
- Water temperature20–27 °C
- Best monthsApril, September, and October
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Doryrhamphus japonicus, or the Honshu pipefish, is a species of flagtail pipefish from the genus Doryrhamphus that occurs in the Western Pacific Ocean, from Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, to Sulawesi, Indonesia, the Philippines, and north as far as Honshu, Japan and Korea. It is a marine demersal pipefish that inhabits coastal lagoons, rocky and coral reefs, and tidal pools down to as deep as 30 metres (98 ft) but it is unusual below 10 metres (33 ft). This species is frequently found in association with sea urchins of the genus Diadema and with sponges. It is an active cleaner, feeding on parasites found on other fishes. It frequently shares crevices with shrimps, large mud crabs and occasionally moray eels.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Doryrhamphus japonicus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 0 records
- February: 2 records
- March: 1 records
- April: 7 records
- May: 2 records
- June: 3 records
- July: 4 records
- August: 4 records
- September: 6 records
- October: 6 records
- November: 3 records
- December: 6 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–7 m · Deepest record: 15 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 20–27 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Blacksided Pipefish, Honshu Pipefish
Names in 3 more languages
- Japanese
- Nokogiriyoji, Nokogiri-yôji, ノコギリヨウジ
- Korean
- 부채꼬리실고기
- Simplified Chinese
- 日本海龍, 日本海龙, 日本矛吻海龍, 日本矛吻海龙, 海龍
Similar species
Bluestripe pipefishDoryrhamphus excisus
Cleaner PipefishDoryrhamphus janssi
Flagtail PipefishDoryrhamphus negrosensis
- Narrowstripe pipefish
Doryrhamphus bicarinatus
Banded PipefishCorythoichthys flavofasciatus
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 131 open-data records from 1955 to 2011.
- Species data updated November 2, 2026.
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