The opossum pipefish is a U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service

National Marine Fisheries Service

The National Marine Fisheries Service is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine resources and their habitat within the...

 Species of Concern. Species of Concern

Species of Concern

In wildlife conservation, Species of Concern is an informal term, not defined in the federal Endangered Species Act. The term commonly refers to species that are declining or appear to be in need of concentrated conservation actions. Many agencies and organizations maintain lists of these at-risk...

 are those species about which the U.S. Government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...

, National Marine Fisheries Service, has some concerns regarding status and threats, but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Species Description

Opossum pipefish are a widespread species that spawn in low salinity areas of estuaries.
The color of the opossum pipefish is distinctive, especially in breeding adults: the upper snout and back half of the head and body is sienna brown with a series of dark red blotches on each lateral trunk ring forming a red stripe between the lateral and superior trunk ridges; there is a silver stripe on the mid-side between the lateral and inferior trunk ridges, a silver edge on the inferior trunk ridge; the lower half of the snout is bright red with a variable number of black vertical bars, and the caudal fin is also red with a central dark stripe.

Ecology

Nothing is known about annual variation in population size, but the decline in habitat quality (described below) has likely led to a drastic decrease in population size.

Conservation

The major threats to the opossum pipefish are habitat destruction, water control structures, declining water quality, and an increase in disease. These factors have been documented within the primary ecosystems occupied by opossum pipefish.

Conservation Designations

IUCNhttp://www.iucnredlist.org/: Not Evaluated

American Fisheries Society: Threatened

Species of Greatest Conservation Need:FL, LA, and TX.