A cluster of white pipefish living among the tentacles of a single mushroom coral.
A slender pipefish to about 8 cm, white to translucent with a fine dark line running the length of the body and a pale snout. The colour is a match for the extended tentacles of its host, and a group of them lying among those tentacles is very difficult to resolve until one moves.
An obligate associate of mushroom corals, Heliofungia actiniformis in particular, which are free-living solitary corals lying on sand and rubble with long anemone-like tentacles. A single coral usually holds several pipefish — three to ten is normal — which distinguishes this species from the pipefish that occur in pairs. They stay within the tentacle field for life. Recorded from about 5 to 30 m. The host retracts its tentacles under a strong light, which removes the cover the fish are relying on and pushes them out into the open, so the light goes on late and comes off quickly. The same corals sometimes hold a commensal shrimp and a small crab.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.