Belongs within: Syngnathoidei.
Contains: Gastrophori, Corythoichthys, Urophori.
The Syngnathidae, pipefishes and seahorses, are small, long-bodied fish with the body encased in dermal plates.
Characters (Berg 1940): Two nasal openings on each side. Body completely covered with dermal plates. Dorsal fin, if present, single, without spines. Ventrals absent. Gill openings dorsal, very small. Nasals absent. Two or three preorbitals present. Supracleithrum absent, cleithrum connected with transverse processes of two anterior vertebrae. Anal, if present, rudimentary. Caudal, if present, small. Urinary tubules and both urinary ducts on right side of body cavity, following strongly developed right cardinal vein.
Syngnathidae
|--‘Syngnathus’ heckeli de Zigno 1874B-RB13, B80
|--Prosolenostomus Blot 1980B-RB13, B80
| `--*P. lessinii Blot 1980B80
`--+--GastrophoriB40
`--+--+--Stigmatopora nigraB-RW17
| `--CorythoichthysB-RW17
`--+--+--Syngnathoides Bleeker 1851B-RW17, S63
| | `--S. biaculeatus (Bloch 1785) (see below for synonymy)S63
| `--+--Phycodurus equesB-RW17
| `--PhyllopteryxB-RW17
| |--P. equesH04
| |--P. foliatusB96
| `--P. taeniolatusB-RW17
`--+--UrophoriB-RW17
`--+--+--FestucalexB-RW17
| | |--F. scalaris (Gunther 1870)BR90
| | `--F. wassiB-RW17
| `--+--Hypselognathus rostratusB-RW17
| `--VanacampusB-RW17
| |--V. phillipiB-RW17
| `--V. poecilolaemusB-RW17
`--+--HippichthysB-RW17
| |--H. cyanospilos (Bleeker 1854)MM14
| `--H. penicillus (Cantor 1850)MM14
`--Siokunichthys Herald 1953B-RW17, S63
|--*S. herrei Herald 1953S63
|--S. breviceps Smith 1963S63
|--‘Ichthyocampus’ davoensis Herald 1953 [=Bulbonarcus davoensis]S63
`--S. nigrolineatusB-RW17
Syngnathidae incertae sedis:
Paramicrophis Klausewitz 1955K55
`--*P. schmidti Klausewitz 1955K55
Solegnathus Swainson 1839S63
|--*S. hardwickii (Gray 1830) [=Syngnathus hardwickii; incl. So. polyprion Bleeker 1879]S63
`--S. dunckeriG75
Stigmatophora argus (Richardson 1840) [=Syngnathus argus]M58
Micrognathus Duncker 1912S63
|--*M. brevirostris (Rüppell 1838)S63 [=Syngnathus brevirostrisM58; incl. S. tetrophthalmus Weber 1895M58]
|--M. andersonii (Bleeker 1858)MM14
|--M. brocki Herald 1953S63
|--M. mataafae (Jordan & Seale 1906) [=Corythroichthys mataafae]S63
`--M. micronotopterus (Fowler 1938)MM14
Coelonotus Peters 1855S63
|--*C. argulus Peters 1855S63
|--C. biocellatus Gunther 1870S63
|--C. leiaspis (Bleeker 1853)S63 (see below for synonymy)
`--C. platyrhynchus (Dumeril 1870) [=Syngnathus platyrhynchus]M58
Doryrhamphinarum manadensis (Bleeker 1856) (see below for synonymy)M58
Bombonia uxorius Herre 1935M58
Haliichthys taeniophorus Gray 1859 [=Phyllopteryx taeniophorus]M58
Ichthyocampus Kaup 1853S63
|--*I. belcheri Kaup 1853S63
|--I. bannwarthi Dunker 1915S63
|--I. kampeni Weber 1913M58
|--I. pictus Duncker 1915S63
`--I. townsendi Duncker 1915S63
Penetopteryx Lunel 1881S63
`--*P. taeniocephalus Lunel 1881S63
Nannocampus Gunther 1870S63
|--*N. subosseus Gunther 1870S63
`--N. elegans Smith 1961S63
Belonichthys Peters 1868S63
`--*B. fluviatilis (Peters 1852) (see below for synonymy)S63
Phanerotokeus Duncker 1940 [incl. Halicampoides Fowler 1956]S63
`--P. macrorhynchus (Bamber 1915) (see below for synonymy)S63
Yozia Jordan & Snyder 1901S63
|--Y. bicoarctata (Bleeker 1857) (see below for synonymy)S63
`--Y. intermedia (Kaup 1856) (see below for synonymy)S63
Kaupia Smith 1963S63
`--*K. boaja (Bleeker 1851) [=Syngnathus boaja]S63
Siphostoma schlegeliJR10
Gasterotokeus biaculeatusJR10
Bhanotia fasciolata (Duméril 1870)MM14
Filicampus tigris (Castelnau 1879)MM14
Minyichthys myersi (Herald & Randall 1972)MM14
Pseudosyngnathus opisthopterus (Agassiz 1833)B40, P93 [=Syngnathus opisthopterusB80]
*Belonichthys fluviatilis (Peters 1852) [=Syngnathus fluviatilis; incl. Dorichthys mento Gunther 1870, S. zambezensis Peters 1855, Belonichthys zambezensis]S63
Coelonotus leiaspis (Bleeker 1853)S63 [=Syngnathus leiaspisS63, C. liaspisS63, Hemithylacus leiaspisS63; incl. S. budi Weber 1908M58, Coelonotus vaillanti Juillerat 1880S63]
Doryrhamphinarum manadensis (Bleeker 1856) [=Syngnathus manadensis, Microphis manadensis; incl. Doryichthys bernsteini Weber 1908]M58
Phanerotokeus macrorhynchus (Bamber 1915) [=Halicampus macrorhynchus, Halicampoides macrorhynchus; incl. *Phanerotokeus gohari Duncker 1940]S63
Syngnathoides biaculeatus (Bloch 1785) [=Syngnathus biaculeatus, Gastrotokeus biaculeatus; incl. *Syngnathoides blochi Bleeker 1851]S63
Yozia bicoarctata (Bleeker 1857) [=Syngnathus bicoarctata; incl. Y. bicoarctata erythraensis, *Y. wakanourae, Syngnathus zanzibarensis Gunther 1866]S63
Yozia intermedia (Kaup 1856) [=Trachyrhamphus intermedius, Syngnathus intermedius; incl. S. ceylonensis Gunther 1870]S63
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[B40] Berg, L. S. 1940. Classification of fishes both recent and fossil. Travaux de l’Institute Zoologique de l’Academie des Sciences de l’URSS 5 (2): 87–517.
[B-RB13] Betancur-R., R., R. E. Broughton, E. O. Wiley, K. Carpenter, A. López, C. Li, N. I. Holcroft, D. Arcila, M. Sanciangco, J. C. Cureton, II, F. Zhang, T. Buser, M. A. Campbell, J. A. Ballesteros, A. Roa-Varon, S. Willis, W. C. Borden, T. Rowley, P. C. Reneau, D. J. Hough, G. Lu, T. Grande, G. Arratia & G. Ortí. 2013. The tree of life and a new classification of bony fishes. PLoS Currents Tree of Life April 18 2013. doi: 10.1371/currents.tol.53ba26640df0ccaee75bb165c8c26288.
[B-RW17] Betancur-R, R., E. O. Wiley, G. Arratia, A. Acero, N. Bailly, M. Miya, G. Lecointre & G. Ortí. 2017. Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17: 162.
[BR90] Black, R., A. I. Robertson, C. H. Peterson & N. M. Peterson. 1990. Fishes and benthos of near-shore seagrass and sandflat habitats at Monkey Mia Shark Bay, Western Australia. In: Berry, P. F., S. D. Bradshaw & B. R. Wilson (eds) Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe Bicentenary Expedition Committee pp. 245–261. Western Australian Museum.
[B80] Blot, J. 1980. La faune ichthyologique des gisements du Monte Bolca (Province de Vérone, Italie). Catalogue systématique présentant l’état actuel des recherches concernant cette faune. Bulletin du Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle C 2: 339–396.
[B96] Bond, C. E. 1996. Biology of Fishes 2nd ed. Saunders College Publishing: Fort Worth.
[G75] Grant, E. M. 1975. Guide to Fishes. The Co-ordinator-General’s Department: Brisbane (Australia).
[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.
[JR10] Jordan, D. S., & R. E. Richardson. 1910. Check-list of the species of fishes known from the Philippine archipelago. Bureau of Printing: Manila.
[K55] Klausewitz, W. 1955. Paramicrophis schmidti, eine neue Seenadel aus Indien (Pisces, Syngnathidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 36 (5–6): 325–327.
[MM14] Moore, G. I., S. M. Morrison, J. B. Hutchins, G. R. Allen & A. Sampey. 2014. Kimberley marine biota. Historical data: fishes. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 84: 161–206.
[M58] Munro, I. S. R. 1958. The fishes of the New Guinea region: a check-list of the fishes of New Guinea incorporating records of species collected by the Fisheries Survey Vessel “Fairwind” during the years 1948 to 1950. Papua and New Guinea Agricultural Journal 10 (4): 97–369 (reprinted: 1958. Territory of Papua and New Guinea Fisheries Bulletin no. 1).
[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.
[S63] Smith, J. L. B. 1963. Fishes of the family Syngnathidae from the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean. Ichthyological Bulletin 27: 515–543.