Blue Reef Staff Fall Head Over Heels For New Shrimpfish

A shoal of bizarre needle-like fish that spend their lives standing on their heads is the latest attraction at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium.

The shrimpfish - close cousin of the seahorse and sea dragon - swim in synchronised groups with each fish in a vertical position with its snout pointing down.

The fish, which can reach lengths of up 15cm and has a black stripe running down its body, armour, hides from predators among the prickly points of the black spiny sea urchin.

Blue Reef's Jess Ruxton said: "They're amazing looking fish and are sharing their new display with a group of black sea urchins which should make them feel at home.

"It's really strange to see them together - they're synchronised swimming is almost like watching some kind of underwater ballet!"

Aquarists at the aquarium are hoping the new arrivals will follow in the footsteps of their seahorse cousins and start breeding over the coming months.

"Our captive breeding programme for seahorses has been particularly successful over the years and we're optimistic that the shrimpfish will prove to be equally co-operative," added Jess.

Like seahorses the fish have no scales but are instead encased in a semi-rigid outer armour and, just like their famous relatives, they also snap up shrimps with their tube-like snouts.

In the wild shrimpfish live in coastal reefs and seagrass beds, forming schools among the spines of sea urchins or certain species of coral. They're found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans and in the Red Sea.