在过去的几周里，我们一直很忙，在印度尼西亚巴厘岛岛上设立了珊瑚苗圃。我们的礁石修复网站之一Ocean Gardener project在阿姆德（Amed），北巴厘岛（North Bali）开始吸引越来越有趣的礁石生物和动物。我们很幸运地发现并观察到的最后一个是三重奏Halimeda Ghost Pipefish，Solenostomus halimeda。
This fish is so well camouflaged, that only the young eyes of our last female Ocean Gardener instructor could spot it. And even with someone pointing it to me underwater, my weary eyes took a long time to actually be able to make out the fish in its habitat. It has only been than 20 years since the halimeda ghost pipefish was described, although it was known by divers for a lot longer than that.
描述：
专业Solenostemus Halimedais to mimic perfectly Halimeda algae leaves. And this very distinctive fish is so good at camouflage that it’s almost impossible to distinguish from the Halimeda algae within which it lives. This level of specialization pushes the level of mimicry to also harbor the same invertebrates that grow on the algae. The different body proportion and ray fin count separates it from the other members of this genus which includes the Ornate (Solenostomusparadoxus），稳健（Solenostomus Cyanopterus）幽灵pipefish。
In this Genus, females differ from male by having large, fused pelvic fins designed to incubate their eggs, unlike Syngnathids like other seahorses and pipefish in which males brood the eggs.
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Female ghost pipefish, Solenostomus halimeda -
Male ghost pipefish, Solenostomus halimeda
包裹在卵信封中的胚胎附着在表皮茎上，称为肩骨，仅发生在育雏雌性中。骨侧是骨盆鳍内表面上皮的细胞生长。这种特殊性使该属变得非常特别。
相同的肠形的邻近钙结合在一起，建立了与单个鸡蛋的信封的附件。鞘杆菌由与皮肤连续的表面上皮组成，纤维结缔组织核心含有血管，该血管含有血管，这些血管将其延伸到顶端毛细管丛中。丛可能在母体 - 胚胎代谢交换中起作用。
Solenostomus的鞘杆菌非常类似于表皮茎（鞘杆菌），它们是皮肤上的南美cat鱼中鸡蛋附着的部位，铂藻骨。基于结构和可能的功能的相似性，两组鱼类中的核腔是进化收敛的一个例子。（Wetzel，J.，Wourms，J.P。皮肤幽灵烟鱼中繁殖和发育的改编，Solenostomus。Environ Biol Fish44,363–384（1995）。https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00008252）
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Here is a picture of the pelvic fins of a male. -
Here is a picture of the bigger pelvic fins of the female.
雌性在其腹鳍“小袋”中携带多个年龄的卵/幼虫。因此，他们每天都会释放幼虫。这也解释了为什么在女性周围经常闲逛的男性。
Habitat:
显然，栖息地是Halimeda藻类床，它可以完美融合。Halimeda是一个绿色大型藻类的属，它的身体由钙质绿色的片段组成，大多数草食性鱼类避免了它。该物种会产生广泛的藻类床和礁石，可植入广泛的动植物。
生命周期：
这个惊人的小动物的生命周期很短。他们将大部分时间都悬挂在浮游生物之间的水柱中。它们在所有这些阶段都很小，并且大多是透明的，直到它们定居在礁石上，彩色，成熟和繁殖为止。然后他们死了。这就是为什么，我们只能在礁石上观察它们仅几周。我们开始看到透明的新定居幼虫，然后它们成熟并聚集在一起以繁殖，获得一些鸡蛋，并在消失之前迅速成熟。
This genus was successfully spawned and bred few times already. But the challenge is to keep genetically viable broodstock out of each cycle. Needing a regular input of new genetics into the loop. Thanks to Matt Wandell and Richard Ross for many of these informations.
