pipefishn.
/ˈpʌɪpfɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈpaɪpˌfɪʃ/ A fish with a tubular form; spec. one of the mostly marine family Syngnathidae (which also includes sea horses), having a narrow elongated body with segmented bony armour beneath the skin, and a long tubular snout.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Gasterosteiformes (sticklebacks) > [noun] > family Syngnathidae (pipe-fish) > member of (pipe-fish)
pipefish1598
sea-adder1686
sea-worm1752
syngnathid1904
1598 tr. G. de Rosselli Epulario sig. G iijv To seeth the Horne-beeke or Pipe fish.
1753 ‘T. Broderick’ Lett. from Several Parts Europe & East II. cxiii. 243 Below these hung the strange form of the pipe-fish, the longest and the slenderest of all the finny race.
1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 107 As we want a generical name in our language for this genus [sc. Syngnathus], we call it the Pipe Fish, from its slender body.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VI. 289 The body of the Pipe Fish, in the thickest part, is not thicker than a swan-quill, while it is above sixteen inches long.
1815 Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N.Y. 1 475 Smaller Pipe-fish. Syngnathus typhle... Is caught frequently in our salt waters during the warm season.
1846 Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 2 168 A male specimen of the Little Pipe Fish (Syngnathus ophidion), with the eggs of the female in its abdominal pouches, was also exhibited.
1931 E. G. Boulenger Fishes xv. 116 The Pipe Fishes (Syngnathidæ) have a wide distribution, four species being common in home waters.
1955 Sci. News Let. 23 July 62/3 The female pipefish deposits her eggs in the male's pouch, as with the sea horses.
1990 D. Attenborough Trials of Life 26 Among the pipe-fish it is, surprisingly, the male who becomes pregnant.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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