Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Gasterosteiformes (Sticklebacks)
Family: Syngnathidae (Pipefishes and seahorses)
Subfamily: Syngnathinae (Pipefishes)
Genus: Ichthyocampus
Species: I. carce

Synonyms
Ichthyocampus ponticerianus Kaup, 1856
Syngnathus carce Hamilton, 1822

Common/local names
English: Freshwater pipefish
Bangladesh: Kumirer khil (কুমিরের খিল) and Kara Kumirer Khil (কারা কুমিরের খিল)

Distributions: Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005); West coast of India to the Celebes (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Morphology: Body elongate and slender with tubular snout. Head 8.5-10.9 times in standard length (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Minute but distinct anal fin. Pectoral fins are small and rounded. Caudal is also small and rounded. No pelvic fins (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Body color brownish often with indications of diffuse bars on body (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Fin formula:
D. 23-26; P1. 15-17; A. 2; C. 6 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005; Shafi and Quddus, 2001)
Rings (14-15)+(37-40); D 22-27; A 2; P 14-16 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Maximum lengths: 4.8 cm TL (Rahman, 1989 and 2005), 12 cm SL (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and 50 cm TL (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

Habitats: Rivers, streams and estuaries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Estuaries and the Bay of Bengal of Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Recorded from Gollamari canal of Khulna (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Food and feeding: Feeds on worms, crustaceans and zooplankton (Rahman, 2005).

Fishery information: Of no interest to fisheries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

__________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

Hamilton F (1822) An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches.: i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.

IUCN Bangladesh (2000) Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.

Kaup JJ (1856) Catalogue of lophobranchiate fish in the collection of the British Museum. London. Catalogue of lophobranchiate fish in the collection of the British Museum.: i-iv + 1-76, Pls. 1-4.

Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 36.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 50-51.

Shafi M and Quddus MMA (2001) Bangladesher Matsho Shampad (Fisheries of Bangladesh) (in Bengali), Kabir publication. Dhaka, Bangladesh. p. 248.

Talwar PK and Jhingran AG (1991) Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 2, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, p. 768.

 


Visited 730 times, 1 visits today | Have any fisheries relevant question?
Freshwater pipefish, Ichthyocampus carce (Hamilton, 1822)

Visitors' Opinions

Shams Galib

Shams works in freshwater ecosystems, primarily on fish diversity in terms of their availability, and richness; he is also interested in aquatic invasive species and their impacts on ecosystem. Email: thegalib@gmail.com. More...

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.