[Jordan and Evermann, Siphostonza pelagicum (Osbeck), 1896-1900, p. 767.]
Most of the species of pipefishes resemble one another so closely that they can be named only by critical examination. The pelagic pipefish differs from its common shore relative of New England (S. fuscus) by having fewer dorsal rays (29 to 31) and fewer rings of bony plates, of which only 16 or 17 are in front of the vent, and 31 to 35 behind the vent.
Tropical Atlantic, northward with the Gulf Stream; also the Mediterranean, and the Southern Pacific and Tropical Indian Oceans.
A single specimen, 3½ inches (89 mm.) long, taken on Georges Bank (Lat. 42° 09' N.; Long. 66° 41' W.), September 20, 1927, by the Albatross II is the only Gulf of Maine record. This specimen was dipped up with a mass of gulf weed (Sargassum), and was the only one found in a large amount of weed that was examined.