Ornate ghost pipefish

Photo: Mark Rosenstein · CC BY-NC

Ornate ghost pipefish hang motionless among the feather stars and crinoids along the wall, their leaf-like appendages matching the texture of their host organism so precisely that they are invisible until they move. Unlike true pipefish, the female — larger than the male — broods the eggs in a pouch formed by her fused pelvic fins. Finding a mated pair requires slow, methodical searching of each crinoid clump.