pipefish hermaphrodites

[danfrith]

Hi, I was wondering if anybody knows if pipefish or any other snygnathids are hermaphrodites( ability to change sex)? Thanks.

 

[mwp]

Considering the drastic physical differences between male and female reproductive organs (i.e. the pouch on a male seahorse) I wouldn't suspect it...

Matt

 

[clownfish75]

dont think pipefish are, they have specific modifications for reproductive purposes.

Christian

 

[David M]

Agreed, as far as seahorses go you can usally tell the sexes apart long before they mature enough to reproduce. Now there is some question as to how environmental factors may influnce sex in the very young, but once they are assigned a sex that is it forever. IME broods came out heavily skewed towards one sex or the other, usually male in my case. When I was breeding and active on Shorg the consensus was that broods were almost always skewed one way or the other. This led us to the question of enviromantal or nutritional factos since in nature this may be a real disadvantage. Or not... if pair A gives mostly males and pair B gives mostly females you significantly reduce the risk of siblings mating

 

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8785973#post8785973 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by David M
Now there is some question as to how environmental factors may influnce sex in the very young, but once they are assigned a sex that is it forever.

That could indeed could be the case, temperature as been proven to determine sex in some species of fish much like in reptiles.

 

[danfrith]

Thank you. The reason i ask is i have 1 female bluestripe pipefish in my tank right now and the lfs also has a female in stock. So, I was wondering if can put them together and eventually one will change sex like an anthias.

 

[clownfish75]

i doubt it, but of the 10 bluestripes i managed to get 8 were males, so it shouldnt be to hard to find one.

Christian