Corythoichthys intestinalis

Messmate Pipefish | Australian Messmate Pipefish | Banded Pipefish | Scribbled Pipefish
Corythoichthys intestinalis
Corythoichthys intestinalis, Tonga, Photo: Graham Edgar
Corythoichthys intestinalis
Corythoichthys intestinalis, Tonga, Photo: Graham Edgar
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Corythoichthys intestinalis
Corythoichthys intestinalis

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Pale with 20 or more dark bands around body made up of fine horizontal black lines, paired yellow spots along back, black lines on head, three black spots on throat and black-banded snout usually with black spots or reticular pattern. Tail fin pink/red with a white margin. Similar species C. haemotopterus (Reeftop Pipefish) has less distinct or even lacks dark markings on the rear third of body. Almost always found in pairs or sometimes small aggregations.


Information

Max Size: 16 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 22.4-30.5°C

Depth: 0-25m

Habitat Generalization Index: 1.79

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Infrequent (1.2% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Few (3 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields