Author: Linnaeus, 1758
Syngnathus acus Linnaeus, 1758
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Syngnathus acus Linnaeus, 1758 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: rings 17-21 + 38-43, D 34-45, P 11-15 (usually 11-12), total subdorsal rings 8-10. Snout length more than half head length, median post-orbital portion of head somewhat elevated. Colour: dorsum and side brown to greenish, usually with dark bars on trunk and tail; ventral surface pale to brownish; dorsal fin plain or lightly spotted with brown. Size: to 46 cm TL.
Habitat: coastal and estuarine waters to depths of 90 m or more; on sand, mud and rough bottoms; relatively common amongst algae and eel-grass (Zostera). Food: no data. Reproduction: mostly brooding May-August. Males mature at about 30 cm, with up to 400 or more pouch-eggs (1.6-2.5 mm diameter): early free-living young 24-28 mm TL.
Distribution: the Faroes, the British Isles, Atlantic coasts from Norway southward to Morocco and the Azores, also Mediterranean and Black Seas. Elsewhere, from the Canaries, off Spanish Sahara, Senegambia, and from Namibia to south-eastern South Africa.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Ehrenbaum, 1909: I 323, fig. 118 | d'Ancona, 1933: 287, pl. XVII (fig. 1), XVIII (fig. 3).
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.