| Picturesque dragonet | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Callionymiformes |
| Family: | Callionymidae |
| Genus: | Synchiropus |
| Species: | S. picturatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Synchiropus picturatus (W. K. H. Peters, 1877) | |
| Synonyms | |
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The picturesque dragonet (Synchiropus picturatus) is a brightly colored member of the dragonet family native to the Indo-West Pacific: Philippines, eastern Indonesia and northwest Australia. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade, where it is commonly known as the spotted mandarin, psychedelic mandarin or target mandarin.
Description
The picturesque dragonet may grow to a size of 7 cm in length. They have thick slime on their skin that inhibits many types of parasitic infection and minimizes the risk of disease following stress or physical trauma. This seems to help protect them from some other more aggressive fish.
Synchiropus picturatus is one of only two vertebrates known to have blue colouring because of cellular pigment, the other being the closely related Synchiropus splendidus. The name "cyanophore" was proposed for the blue chromatophores, or pigment-containing and light-reflecting cells. In all other known cases, the colour blue comes from thin-film interference from piles of flat, thin and reflecting purine crystals.
This species is quite harmless to humans and is quite peaceful with other species. The Picturesque dragonet is a marine animal that naturally lives at a temperature between 24-28 C.
References
- Goda, M.; R. Fujii (2009). "Blue Chromatophores in Two Species of Callionymid Fish". Zoological Science. 12 (6): 811–813. doi:10.2108/zsj.12.811.
- Benoit, T. F.-C. (2024). Picturesque dragonet • synchiropus picturatus • fish sheet. Fishipedia. https://www.fishi-pedia.com/fishes/synchiropus-picturatus
External links
Media related to Synchiropus picturatus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Synchiropus picturatus at Wikispecies- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Synchiropus picturatus". FishBase. December 2008 version.
- Practical Fishkeeping Psychedelic mandarinfish
- Photos of Picturesque dragonet on Sealife Collection
| Taxon identifiers | |
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| Synchiropus picturatus | |
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