Spotted Pipefish, Stigmatopora argus (Richardson 1840)

Other Names: Gulf Pipefish, Ocellated Pipe-fish, Peacock Pipefish

A Spotted Pipefish, Stigmatopora argus, at St Leonards, Port Phillip, Victoria. Source: Julian K. Finn / Museum Victoria. License: CC by Attribution

Summary:

A slender greenish-brown pipefish, usually with evenly scattered small dark or pale spots, sometimes ocellated spots, often covering all but the underside, and an almost prehensile tail that lacks a caudal fin.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2025, Stigmatopora argus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 10 Jul 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3130

Spotted Pipefish, Stigmatopora argus (Richardson 1840)

More Info

Distribution	Seal Rocks, New South Wales, southwards to Dongara, Western Australia, including around Tasmania. Elsewhere the species occurs in New Zealand. Commonly inhabits seagrass beds in inshore bays and estuaries to depths of at least 8 m. Individuals are occasionally found among floating Sargassum sp.
Features	Dorsal fin 37–64; Anal fin 4; Pectoral fin 13-18; Body rings 16–23 + 78–91; Subdorsal rings 11.50–6.25 + 7.00–12.25 = 14.75–22.75. Body very slender and elongate, trunk shallow, not conspicuously broad in adult females, body posterior to dorsal fin approx. equal to that before dorsal fin; body encased in ring like bony plates; STR and TR and STAR continuous; ITR and ITAR continuous; LTR not confluent with LTAR, LTR ending on 8th-18th tail ring; eggs brooded by males in enclosed brood pouch on underside of tail just behind anal fin; tail not prehensile but very slender and flexible. Head aligned with body; snout very long (62-72% HL) and slender (snout depth 3-9% snout length), tubular; longitudinal opercular ridge complete in young, often incomplete or vestigial in subadults and adults. Single dorsal fin centrally on back, with relatively elongate base, origin on 9th-13th trunk ring; anal fin tiny, below middle of dorsal fin; caudal fin absent. Pectoral fins small.
Size	To 25 cm TL.
Colour	Highly variable in colour - mostly greenish-brown, usually with evenly scattered small dark or pale spots, sometimes ocellated spots, often covering all but the underside; unspotted individuals not uncommon; brood pouch folds of adult males often with longitudinal pale stripes. A fine orange band on the dorsal surface of females becomes more obvious during the breeding season.
Feeding	Feeds on tiny crustaceans such as mysids.
Biology	Maximum recorded brood size 41 eggs.
Conservation	IUCN Least Concern
Remarks	Although the tail is not prehensile, individuals may curl it loosely around seagrasses and algae. Numbers of trunk rings, dorsal-fin rays and other features are geographically variable; fishes in Tasmania and Western Australia have higher counts and reach a greater length than elsewhere.
Similar Species	Although female Stigmatopora argus lack the exceptionally broad trunk of adult female S. nigra, some individuals have a marginal fleshy fold on the lateral trunk ridge. S. narinosa and S. argus both have elongated narrow, shallow snouts however the snout of S. narinosa is shorter, wider and more elevated. The brood pouch of S. narinosa extends 15–18 rings from the anal ring compared to 14–24 in S. argus, and 12-16 in S. nigra. S. narinosa is distinguished from S. nigra in having 9 rather than 6 sub-dorsal tail rings, a greater average number of dorsal rays (40.8 versus 36), subdorsal tail rings (9.08 versus 6.23) and subdorsal rings (19.8 versus 16.8).
Etymology	The species is named for Argus, the hundred-eyed guardian of Io of Greek mythology, whose eyes after death where transformed into the feathers of a peacock. In the original description, Richardson (1840) refers to this species as the Ocellated Pipe-fish, and in 1844 writes: 'The hair-brown back and sides are studded in a very beautiful manner with oval black spots having white borders, about twenty on each segment...'
Species Citation	Syngnathus argus Richardson, 1840, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 8: 29. Type locality: Australia, (probably Tasmania)
Author	Bray, D.J. 2025
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Spotted Pipefish, Stigmatopora argus (Richardson 1840)

References

Browne, R.K. & Smith, K. 2007. A new pipefish, Stigmatopora narinosa (Syngnathidae) from South Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 64: 1-6, http://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2007.64.1

Carlyle, C. & Pollom, R. 2016. Stigmatopora argus (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T88342897A115514252. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T88342897A88342927.en. Downloaded on 03 March 2020.

Castelnau, F.L. de 1872. Contribution to the ichthyology of Australia. 2. Note on some South Australian fishes. Proceedings of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria 1: 243-248. (described as Stigmatophora olivacea, type locality - St. Vincent Gulf, South Australia) See ref at BHL

Dawson, C.E. 1982. Review of the Indo-Pacific pipefish genus Stigmatopora (Syngnathidae). Records of the Australian Museum 34(13): 575-605 figs 1-11, https://doi.org/10.3853/j.0067-1975.34.1982.243

Dawson, C.E. 1985. Indo-Pacific Pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). Ocean Springs (Mississippi) : Gulf Coast Research Laboratory 230 pp. 293 figs pl. 1.

Dawson, C.E. 1994. Family Syngnathidae. pp. 440-475 figs 391-426 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs.

Edgar, G.J. 2008. Australian Marine Life: the plants and animals of temperate waters. Sydney : Reed New Holland 2nd edn, 624 pp.

Edgar, G.J. & Shaw, C. 1995. The production and trophic ecology of shallow-water fish assemblages in southern Australia. II. Diets of fishes and trophic relationships between fishes and benthos at Western Port, Victoria. Journal of Experimental marine Biology and Ecology 194: 83–106.

Hoschke, A., Whisson, G. & Moore, G.I. 2019. Complete list of fishes from Rottnest Island. pp. 150-161 in Whisson, G. & Hoschke, A. (eds) The Rottnest Island fish book. 2nd ed. Perth : Aqua Research and Monitoring Services.

Hutchins, J.B. 2005. Checklist of marine fishes of Recherche Archipelago and adjacent mainland waters. pp. 425-449 in Wells, F.E., Walker, D.I. & Kendrick, G.A. (eds). Proceedings of the Twelfth International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Esperance, Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum.

Hutchins, J.B. & Swainston, R. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete field guide for anglers and divers. Perth : Swainston Publishing 180 pp.

Kaup, J.J. 1853. Uebersicht der Lophobranchier. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 19(1): 226-234

Klunzinger, C.B. 1872. Zur Fische-fauna von Süd Australien. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 38(1): 17-47 pl. 2 (described as Gastrotokeus gracilis)

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp.

Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Seahorses, Pipefishes and Their Relatives. Chorleywood, UK : TMC Publishing 240 pp.

Kuiter, R.H. 2008. Syngnathidae. pp. 448-479 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Kuiter, R.H. 2009. Seahorses and their relatives. Seaford, Australia : Aquatic Photographics pp. 331.

Kuiter, R.H. & Kuiter, S.L. 2018. Fish watchers guide to coastal sea-fishes of south-eastern Australia. Seaford, Victoria : Aquatic Photographics, 371 pp.

Last, P.R., Scott, E.O.G. & Talbot, F.H. 1983. Fishes of Tasmania. Hobart : Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority 563 pp. figs.

Lucas, A.H.S. 1891. On the occurrence of certain fish in Victorian seas, with descriptions of some new species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 3(2): 8-14 pl. 3 (described as Stigmatophora argus brevicaudata) See ref at BHL

Macleay, W.J. 1881. Descriptive catalogue of the fishes of Australia. Part 4. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 6(2): 202-387 (described as Stigmatophora depressiuscula and Stigmatophora gracilis) See ref at BHL

Parkinson, K.L. & Booth, D.J. 2016. Rapid growth and short life spans characterize pipefish populations in vulnerable seagrass beds. Journal of Fish Biology 88: 1847–1855, https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12950

Parkinson, K.L., Booth, D.J. & Lee, J.E. 2012. Validation of otolith daily increment formationfor two temperate syngnathid ﬁshes: the pipeﬁshes Stigmatopora argus and Stigmatopora nigra. Journal of Fish Biology 80: 698–704 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03194.x

Richardson, J. 1840. On some new species of fishes from Australia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 8: 25-30, See ref at BHL

Richardson, J. 1844. Description of Australian Fish. (Part 2). Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 3(art. 5, pt. 2): 133-185, Pls. 7-11, See ref at BHL

Scott, T.D., Glover, C.J.M. & Southcott, R.V. 1974. The Marine and Freshwater Fishes of South Australia. Adelaide : Government Printer 392 pp. figs.

Short, G. & Trevor-Jones, A. 2020. Stigmatopora harastii, a new species of pipefish in facultative associations with finger sponges and red algae from New South Wales, Australia (Teleostei, Syngnathidae). ZooKeys 994: 105-123, https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.994.57160

Steffe, A.S., Westoby, M. & Bell, J.D. 1989. Habitat selection and diet in two species of pipeﬁsh from seagrass: sex differences. Marine Ecology Progress Series 55: 23–30.

Stewart, A.L. 2015. Families Syngnathidae, Aulostomidae, Fistulariidae, Macroramphosidae. pp. 1050-1072 in Roberts, C.D., Stewart, A.L. & Struthers, C.D. The Fishes of New Zealand. Wellington : Te Papa Press Vol. 3 pp. 577-1152.