Alligator pipefish

About this species

The alligator pipefish or double-ended pipefish is a species of fish in the family Syngnathidae and is the only species in the monotypic genus Syngnathoides. It is found in shallow water in the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific, its range extending from East Africa to northern Australia. This fish lives in habitats of seagrass and seaweed, and hides by positioning itself vertically with its head down amidst the similar-coloured fronds of vegetation. The elongated, well-camouflaged body can reach 29 cm (11 in) in length. It feeds by sucking up its prey.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Alligator pipefish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 11 records
February: 12 records
March: 23 records
April: 14 records
May: 15 records
June: 15 records
July: 16 records
August: 15 records
September: 14 records
October: 18 records
November: 7 records
December: 7 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–135 m · Deepest record: 475 m

0–10 m: 36 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 8 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 15–30 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 3 records
20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 45 records
24–26 °C: 15 records
26–28 °C: 136 records
28–30 °C: 127 records

Photos

(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rohan Arthur, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Davis Damaledo, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Tom Heijnen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Alligator pipefish, alligator pipefish, Double-ended Pipe-fish, Double-ended Pipefish, Double-ended Pipehorse, Double-end Pipehorse, horned pipefish, Painted Flute Mouth, Spiraltail Pipefish, twobarbel pipefish

Names in 4 more languages

French: Longue-flûte
Japanese: Togeyoji, Togeyôji, トゲヨウジ
Thai: ปลาจิ้มฟันจระเข้เขียว, ปลาจิ้มฟันจระเข้ท้องคม
Simplified Chinese: 拟海龙, 擬海龍, 棘海龍, 棘海龙, 海龍, 雙棘擬海龍

Other scientific names: Stigmatophora unicolor, Syngnathoides bicauleatus, Syngnathoides biculeatus, Syngnathoides blochii, Syngnathus biaculeatus, Syngnathus tetragonus

Similar species

Banded pipefish
Corythoichthys intestinalis
Banded Pipefish
Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus
Bargibant's Pygmy Seahorse
Hippocampus bargibanti
Barbed Pipefish
Bhanotia fasciolata
Few-rayed Pipefish
Bhanotia pauciradiata

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).
563 open-data records from 1785 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.