The Lesser pipefish or Nilsson's pipefish, Syngnathus rostellatus, is a pipefish

Pipefish

Pipefishes or pipe-fishes are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses, form the family Syngnathidae.-Anatomy:...

 similar to the greater pipefish

Greater pipefish

The Greater pipefish, Syngnathus acus, is a pipefish of the family Syngnathidae.The Greater pipefish has a long segmented armoured body, angular in cross section and stretching up 45cm long with its stiff appearance. It ranges a color brown to green in with broad alternating light and dark hue...

, but with no crest above the head. Usually it reaches up to 17 centimetres (6.7 in) in length, maximally 18 centimetres (7.1 in), although in South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

 they are usually not more than 10 to 13 cm (3.9 to 5.1 ) long. They have a light to dark green-brown colour with bar-like markings on the sides (compare the greater pipefish). Lesser pipefish are found all around the British Isles and as far as the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 coast .

Anatomy

The head has a long, thin, round snout with a small up-turned mouth; the eyes are small and situated well back towards the gill covers; The body is long and thin, covered with bony plates; the dorsal fin situates half way along the body, and pelvic fins are found below this. The caudal fin is shaped like a fan, and small pectoral fins are situated behind the gills. The lesser and greater pipefish species differ because one has a crest on the head while one doesn't . However, they are still quite similar: a fully grown lesser pipefish and a young greater pipefish share similar coloration and markings and they both have a caudal fin and swim in a similar style. One distinguishing feature of the lesser pipefish is a continuous black line from the gills down the belly to the tail, although this not very apparent on very young specimens.

Habits

The lesser pipefish feeds on small crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s, and makes its habitat in shallow water. In aquariums, this species should be kept at a temperature no more than 18 °C (64.4 °F) and need to be fed on live food . Breeding takes place in spring and summer. The adult male carries the eggs and young in a brood

Offspring

In biology, offspring is the product of reproduction, of a new organism produced by one or more parents.Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way...

 pouch until they are able enough to fend for themselves. They can carry about 100 eggs. The young will hatch after about 3 weeks and are pelagic.

Translations

The lesser pipefish is known as liten kantnål in Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

, mindre kantnål in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

, lille tangnål in Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

 and Kleine Seenadel in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....