Ocellated dragonet

Ocellated dragonet
Male Scooter Dragonet
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Division: Teleostei
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Callionymidae
Genus: Neosynchiropus
Species:
N. ocellatus
Binomial name
Neosynchiropus ocellatus
(Pallas, 1770)
Synonyms
  • Synchiropus ocellatus (Pallas, 1770)
  • Callionymus ocellatus Pallas, 1770

The ocellated dragonet, scooter dragonet or scooter blenny (Neosynchiropus ocellatus) is a species of marine ray-finned fish in the family Callionymidae. It is native to parts of the Pacific Ocean, and can be found from southern Japan to the Marquesan Islands.

Taxonomy

This species is placed in Synchiropus by some authors (since some consider that Neosynchiropus is a synonym of Synchiropus). Also, despite one of its common names being "scooter blenny", the ocellated dragonet is not a blenny, and is instead allied with seahorses and pipefishes.

Description

The scooter dragonet grows to approximately 8 cm (3.1 in). It is brown and tan with a striped or spotted pattern; males are usually more colorful, and possess a large sail-like dorsal fin that is bright orange at the base. When viewed from above, the scooter dragonet is distinctly diamond-shaped, with the horizontal pectoral fins located at the two widest points.

Habitat

The scooter dragonet is a reef-associated bottom-dwelling fish that inhabits shallow, tropical waters, usually sandy lagoons or rocky reefs.

Biology

This species tends to form loose congregations of several individuals, but does not exhibit schooling behavior or other forms of social cooperation. The diet consists almost entirely of copepods; however, in captivity, the scooter dragonet can often be acclimated to consuming frozen or even artificial foods (such as flakes).

References

Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Synchiropus ocellatus.
  • Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Synchiropus ocellatus". FishBase. December 2008 version.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.