The kelp pipefish are found in shallow eelgrass beds (Zostera marina) in most bays of Southern California. For the purposes of this study the fish are found in Mission Point of San Diego. They live at various depths in the area. The cryptic ability of these fish makes it almost impossible to watch them in the field, as they blend well with the greens and browns of the grass beds.

Syngnathus californiensis are sex role reversed. Females deposit eggs in the pouch of a male or multiple males. The males fertilize and carry theses eggs in their pouch for about a month. It is believed that the males supply oxygen and nutrients to the embryos during this time. A paternal expenditure in offspring seems necessary but not a prerequisite for sex role reversal. As far as we know, females can reproduce faster than the males at the time of pair formation, since the females can produce eggs in less than the month required to incubate the embryos in the male's pouch. In this species males and females are promiscuous, and the male will often carry a brood made up of the eggs of numerous females, and the female will deposit her eggs into the pouches of numerous males. This is in contrast to Seahorse species which are monogamous.

The male fish carries the young to their time of birth, where parental care is still unknown. Though if the fry are not removed in a timely manner from our holding tanks, cannibalism occurs as the father and other pipefish present will eat the young. In the wild, one could assume that the hatchlings are taken off by currents and thus would have little parental care, and less chance of being cannibalized.

In nature, we would believe, S. californiensis actively choose and reject the opposite sex, portraying a rigorous and elaborate display of courtship. The ritual in captivity, witnessed a few times, involves a shiver, and a graceful entwining of the male and female bodies. In other species the dance includes a rapid approach by the chooser, a parallel swim (here one would believe that the fish are evaluating the potential mate), the arch by the chooser, the corresponding arch (I believe this to be the acceptance part of the display), the cross of the bodies beginning with the face rub and continuing with the cross of the body, then the swim head up, and lastly, both fish will rise off the substrate to the surface either simultaneously or consecutively (Matsumoto et. al, 2001).

Trunk rings are described as the rings from the back of the gill rakers to the anal hole. For our study we are looking for pipefish with 17 to 19 trunk rings. The Syngnathus californiensis has 17 to 19 trunk rings, (Fritzsche, 1980) its snout is long and compressed. The Bay Pipefish, also common in the area, look almost identical yet their snouts are just a bit shorter and rounded. Coloration varies from emerald green to almost completely brown. If there is some question we will have to count all the rings from rakers to tail. Thus, we will bring in the key for that development.

We have observed on numerous occasions a change in color intensity in both males and females during courtship and dominance displays. For example, in one experiment we witnessed the following: we had three females of varying colors ranging from emerald green to dark brown. The darkest brown female, while rather unaffected by the goings on in the tank became the most dominant and energetic when the male was introduced. The male had emerald green lateral striations and brown top patch. With the introduction of the male this rather dormant female made a direct swim for the male and began to ward off any other females that approached him. When the male was with this female his green lateral striations went dark and the top patch became dark brown matching the color of the female. When he was at rest his emerald patches were more dominant.

In other experiments we observed the females expending energy to show their deepest of colors, depending on which male they were with. One female, which was relatively pale colored (color loss seems to happen the longer our fish remain in captivity), expended the energy to portray her emerald colors for display to males.

For the purposes of this experiment, we intend to monitor and record the color changes of the mating fish. Validation is key.

Though it has been shown in previous studies (Rosenqvist and Berglund, 1995, 1998, 2001) that the male has been the chooser, we hope to establish that in Syngnathus californiensis, the female actively chooses the male as well. Based on these studies we have formulated experiments to show this. In previous experiments the S. californiensis female has shown propensity for choosing the male. This has been shown in dominance in the tanks where she has not been dominant before, she expends the energy to show her ornamentation and keeps her color, but the male also shows color change when attempting to attract the female. These experiments will be structured for this purpose.

Syngnathus californiensis are caught primarily at low tide - full moon tides are the best - with seiners using a beach seining system. Several trawls are made to collect the fish. Twenty to thirty are collected during each seining bout. Fish are then transported to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, where they are measured, speciated, separated by male and female, and put into holding tanks. The holding tanks are organized by small to large, male and female. We have been granted a permit from the California Department of Fish and Game that is valid until August.

Kelp pipefish are fed brine shrimp (Artemia) and mysids daily. Algae is being cultured to be fed to the mysids and brine shrimp. The purpose of this is to find if diet is a reason for color loss when in captivity.