Syngnathus acus
Fish
Middle Miocene
Monterey Formation
Solvang, California, USA

120mm pipefish on 160mm slab.

Syngnathus is a genus of pipefish that dates back to the Oligocene from various European fossil localities so this California occurrence is an anomaly though pipefishes live today in tropical to temperate waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.

Pipefish belong to the same family, Syngnathidae, as seahorses.