ALL PHOTOS BELOW OF VANACAMPUS PHILLIPI (PT PHILLIP PIPEFISH)  HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY DAVID MUIRHEAD AND CAN BE CLICKED ON TO SHOW THEIR TRUE DEPTH AND BEAUTY.  SPECIES ARE NAMED BY ROBERT BROWNE.

The Vanacampus spp. genera currently comprises four species, Pt. Phillip pipefish V. phillipi, Mother-of-Pearl pipefish V. margaritifer, Verco's pipefish / Flinder's pipefish V. vercoi, and the Long-snout pipefish V. poecilolaemus,  Verco's pipefish / Flinder's pipefish has 16 trunk rings in contrast to the 17-20 trunk rings of the other species. However, there is a considerable ambiguity in the discriminating meristics (counts of characteristics) of the Vanacampus species, and there are possibly a number of novel taxon in the group.

Reproduction: Little is known about the reproduction of the Pt Phillip pipefish.

Pt Phillip pipefish from the South Australian Museum; Egg Numbers, n=8, mean 23, range 17 to 30. Male length, mean 107 mm, range 95 mm to 118 mm.  There was no correlation between male length and egg numbers. 

Juvenile Pt Phillip pipefish were at 19 mm at birth (Kevin Smith. pers. com).

Pt Clinton at the northern (upper) end of Gulf St Vincent, South Australia, has extensive shallow mudflats with Zostera seagrass adjacent to mangroves. The area is very silty with deep mud and high fluctuations in water temperatures. Pt Phillip pipefish inhabit the shallows with Wide-body pipefish and Deep-body pipefish.

Davenport Creek, western Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Specimens of pipefish from the South Australian Museum collected in 1964 indicated an atypical form of the Pt Phillip pipefish existed in the region. This western most mangrove estuary in South Australia consists of sand and mud flats with Zostera and Posidonia sea grass with shallow channels. The atypical form of the Pt Phillip pipefish found at Davenport Creek is shown below.

Male and female pipefish most closely resembling Pt Phillip pipefish from near Ceduna, western Eyre Peninsular, South Australia. These pipefish are much deeper in the trunk than Pt Phillip pipefish from Gulf St Vincent to the east. The dark stripe along the belly seems typical of the Pt Phillip pipefish group (images, Kevin Smith and Robert Browne)

Below: Female - although these fish have striations on the trunk and tail these are

Below: Female - although these fish have striations on the trunk and tail these are not the typical bright blue of those from the Gulf St. Vincent to the east not the typical bright blue of those from the Gulf St. Vincent to the east.

Additional notes

The Port Phillip pipefish (Vanacampus phillipi, Lucas, 1891) is abundant across southern Australia, ranging from N.S.W. through to W.A.. It is common in the gulfs and bays of the south coast (Gomon et al., 1994) particularly in Victorian bays such as Western Port Bay and Swan Bay (Plummer et al., 2003). In South Australia, there are regional forms that differ in characteristics such as trunk width, striping, and colour. Port Phillip pipefish has been regularly recorded in Gulf St Vincent (eastern and western sides); northern, central and southern Spencer Gulf coasts, north-eastern Kangaroo Island, and the bays of the west coast of S.A., in the eastern Great Australian Bight (OZCAM database, 2005).  Port Phillip pipefish is found in estuaries and seagrass beds in shallow coastal waters (Dawson 1985). Specific examples of habitat in S.A. in which the species has been recorded, include (i) very shallow sand and mud flats with Zostera and Posidonia seagrass, in shallow channels edged by mangroves, and (ii) shallow Zostera seagrass beds at the edge of mud flats that are exposed at low tide.

Dawson, C. (1985) Indo-Pacific Pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA.

Gomon, M., Glover, C. and Kuiter, R. (eds.) (1994) The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide, South Australia . 992p.

Kuiter, R. (2000, 2003a) Seahorses, Pipefishes and their Relatives. A Comprehensive Guide to Syngnathiformes. TMC Publishing, Chorleywood, UK. 240p. (First edition and revised edition).

Plummer, A., Morris, L., Blake, S. and Ball, D. (2003) Marine Natural Values Study: Victorian Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries. Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 1,  September, 2003. Parks Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria.