Michelle Kirshenbaum, one of our aquarists, burst into my office last week, grinning from ear to ear. She excitedly told me about the baby pipefish that had recently been born. “Come look in the lab!” she urged me, so we dashed through to the culture lab and peered into a tank of “pea green soup”, and there gyrating in the green were blackish squiggles – baby pipefish.

Tiny baby pipefish swim in a green 'soup' consisting of rotifer. Photo by Renée Leeuwner

“The darker ones are six days old and their stronger colour is a sign that they are eating. The others have just been born,” Michelle enthused. The babies are literally swimming in food – the green “soup” is rich with rotifers, which are microscopic aquatic animals. “It is not easy to raise baby pipefish, but we’ve seen that putting them in green water is the best way to get them to feed and grow,” Michelle stated proudly. We giggled about the thought of being able to swim and eat one’s way through food!

A magnified photo of a rotifer. Photo supplied by Skretting

We then went downstairs into the Atlantic Ocean Gallery to see the month-old pipefish on display. They are floating mysteriously in a circular exhibit next to the exhibit that houses the adult pipefish and seahorses. “Look at the detail!” exclaimed Michelle. Although these little creatures are less than 5cm long, they are perfect replicas of the adults and we could make out their tiny fins and eyes watching us through the acrylic. These pipefish are now big enough to be fed enriched artemia (brine shrimp). As they grow, they will eventually feed on mysids (small shrimp-like crustaceans).

Brine shrimp make for great food for young pipefish. Photo supplied by Skretting

As they get older, the pipefish will move to a diet of mysid. Photo supplied by Skretting

Pipefish are related to seahorses. Like seahorses, male pipefish carry the developing embryos in a pouch on their bellies and give birth to live young. Michelle and one of the other aquarists, Bamanye Mpetsheni, saw the tiny babies floating in the main exhibit and were able to remove them and place them in their feeding nursery.

A fully grown longsnout pipefish. Photo courtesy of Michael Farquhar

“I haven’t been this excited about something so small for a long time,” said Michelle. Her excitement was contagious and once again I was reminded of what a privilege it is to work here at the Aquarium, with fascinating animals and a team of passionate people.

Come and see our newest little residents for yourself – buy your Aquarium tickets online here.

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