Delicate ghost pipefish
Amazing fact
Female delicate ghost pipefish brood eggs in a pouch made from joined pelvic fins.
Museums Victoria
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Female delicate ghost pipefish brood eggs in a pouch made from joined pelvic fins.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Delicate ghost pipefish
- Scientific name
- Solenostomus leptosoma
- Japanese name
- ホソフウライウオ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Syngnathiformes
- Family
- Solenostomidae
- Genus
- Solenostomus
Where the name “Delicate ghost pipefish” comes from
Solenostomus comes from the Greek words for tubelike and mouth. The species name leptosoma combines the Greek words for slender and body.
Museums VictoriaA relative of the robust ghost pipefish, it is seen on sandy and muddy coastal bottoms and on sand around rocky reefs.
It has been found along the coasts from Honshu to Okinawa, and in southern China, southeastern Australia and Fiji.
How the Delicate ghost pipefish lives
Inside the pouch, eggs attach to outgrowths of the skin. When the young hatch, their mouths are already formed and their eyes are pigmented. The young leave through a slit on the right side of the pouch and swim independently.
Museums VictoriaBasic data
- Range
- Sagami Bay, Suruga Bay, Okinawa Island, Guangdong, Arafura Sea, New South Wales, and Fiji Islands, and elsewhere
Where the Delicate ghost pipefish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ホソフウライウオ
- 简体中文
- 细体剃刀鱼
- 繁體中文
- 細體剃刀魚
- Español
- Pez Pipa Fantasma Delicado
- Français
- Poisson-fantôme délicat
- Deutsch
- Zarter Geisterpfeifenfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-cachimbo-fantasma-delicado
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ホソフウライウオChecked: 2026-11-04
- Museums Victoria — Delicate Ghostpipefish, Solenostomus leptosoma Tanaka 1908Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Solenostomidae
MORE TO MEET
