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Seahorses and pipefish. These fishes (family Syngnathidae) are generally slow-moving and secretive, and are not often easy to find. They are planktivores, and can be found in sea grass beds and estuaries as well as in coral reefs. In tact; their fins are poorly developed, and they shun areas of high current or surge. Seahorses (Hippocampus) can be highly camouflaged, some exactly matching a single species of gorgonian.

The master of camouflage, however, is the ghost pipefish (Solenostomus cyanopterus), an animal whose shape and color precisely duplicate a blade of turtlegrass, A strikingly colored relative is the ornate ghost pipefish, S. paradoxus.

Pipefish are long and thin, and superficially appear quite different from seahorses. In fact, structurally they are quite similar, the pipefish just being a stretched-out version. The male incubates the eggs in a pouch on its stomach, and the young are born "live."

The large trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis) looks like a pipefish on steroids (these can be a half-meter or longer) and feeds on small fish. It has the curious habit of hiding behind larger fishes until it comes within range of its prey. One color morph is bright yellow.