| Phylum Chordata
> Subphylum Vertebrate > fishes |
Dragonets
Family Callionymidae
updated
Jul 09
if you
learn only 3 things about them ...
Bottom-dwellers that are hard to spot. Watch your step!
Lacking scales, they have protective mucous that smells
and tastes bad. So they are sometimes called stinkfishes.
They
do poorly in aquariums. |
|
Where
seen? Schaap's
dragonet (Callionymus schaapii) is sometimes seen on our
Northern shores, near seagrass areas. While
the Mosaic dragonets are sometimes seen near
living reefs on some of our shores.
What are dragonets? Dragonets belong to Family Callionymidae.
According to FishBase:
the family has 18 genera and 130 species. They are found mainly in
the Indo-West Pacific.
Features: To about 10cm, those
seen about 3-5cm. These fishes are bottom-dwellers. Instead of scales,
the body is covered in a tough skin and usually coated with mucous
that has a bad taste and smell. So they are sometimes also called
stinkfishes. The gill opening is just a small hole, usually on the
upper side of the head, with a strong spine near it.
These small fishes are bottom dwellers and generally found on sand
or mud near reefs. When resting, most are buried in the sand. Most
of these fishes are well camouflaged but some species can be quite
colourful. In many species the males and females appear different.
The males usually have an enlarged first dorsal fin that is colourful
with intricate patterns.
What do they eat? They
pick off small animals from the surface with their pointed, downward
facing mouth.
Human uses: Some colourful species
(Synchiropus sp.) are popular in the live aquarium trade. Unfortunately,
they do poorly in captivity as they are difficult to feed since they
only eat tiny animals.
Status and threats: Our dragonets
are not listed among the threatened animals of Singapore. However,
like other creatures of the intertidal zone, they are affected by
human activities such as reclamation and pollution.
|
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Family
Callionymidae recorded for Singapore
from
Wee Y.C. and Peter K. L. Ng. 1994. A First Look at Biodiversity
in Singapore.
| |
Dragonets
seen awaiting identification |
| |
Callionymus
enneactis
Callionymus filamentosus
Callionymus japonicus
Callionymus melanotopterus
Callionymus saaitta
Callionymus schaapii (Schaap's
dragonet)
Dactylopus dactylopus |
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|
.
Periplus Editions. 292 pp.