Blue-striped Pipefish Doryrhamphus excisus

The Blue-striped Pipefish, also called Bluestripe Pipefish, is native to reefs of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It has a yellowish or reddish body with a thick blue lateral stripe and a flag tail with variations of bright red, yellow and blue with a white border.

It grows to 7cm long. They work as cleaner fish, eating parasites from other fish supplemented by plankton and small invertebrates. Related to seahorses, female pipefish pass eggs to the male's brooding pouch and the male incubates the eggs and gives birth to live young.