margebonaire
New member
I live on Bonaire about 7 months of the year. A couple years ago I found a sponge straight out from our dock at about 28 foot depth with a variety of pipefish in the sponge. There are usually several Harlequin Pipefish, plus sometimes a couple species that are "unidentified".
About a year ago I found a new species (unidentified) and have watched it grow from about 2 inches in length to 5 or 6 inches in length. I often start and/or end my dive by stopping by the sponge and checking the pipefish.
Yesterday I checked the sponge but couldn't find any pipefish. I started to swim away when I noticed the "unidentified" pipefish was totally out in the open, which I've never seen before. I started to turn on my camera when I noticed that it was exhibiting very strange behavior. It was making very jerky movements, darting a couple inches one direction, then darting a different direction. There was a Dusky Damselfish nearby, so I figured the Damselfish had been tormenting the pipefish, although during the time I watched the Damselfish didn't bother it.
I was amazed when the pipefish swam off the sand about 12 inches (head up) and started jerking. Almost immediately a Graysby, which had been hiding under a nearby coral head, darted out and grabbed the pipefish. I immediately tried to grab the tail of the pipefish, which was sticking out of the Graysby's mouth, but the Graysby ducked back under the coral head.
Does anybody know what would cause the pipefish to exhibit such strange behavior? I'm wondering if it was a male pipefish that was ready to release some babies, or perhaps it was sick. A friend jokingly suggested that it was dying, so waited until I was watching to commit suicide so that I would know what happened to it. Yeh, right . . .
About a year ago I found a new species (unidentified) and have watched it grow from about 2 inches in length to 5 or 6 inches in length. I often start and/or end my dive by stopping by the sponge and checking the pipefish.
Yesterday I checked the sponge but couldn't find any pipefish. I started to swim away when I noticed the "unidentified" pipefish was totally out in the open, which I've never seen before. I started to turn on my camera when I noticed that it was exhibiting very strange behavior. It was making very jerky movements, darting a couple inches one direction, then darting a different direction. There was a Dusky Damselfish nearby, so I figured the Damselfish had been tormenting the pipefish, although during the time I watched the Damselfish didn't bother it.
I was amazed when the pipefish swam off the sand about 12 inches (head up) and started jerking. Almost immediately a Graysby, which had been hiding under a nearby coral head, darted out and grabbed the pipefish. I immediately tried to grab the tail of the pipefish, which was sticking out of the Graysby's mouth, but the Graysby ducked back under the coral head.
Does anybody know what would cause the pipefish to exhibit such strange behavior? I'm wondering if it was a male pipefish that was ready to release some babies, or perhaps it was sick. A friend jokingly suggested that it was dying, so waited until I was watching to commit suicide so that I would know what happened to it. Yeh, right . . .
