Picturesque dragonet

Synchiropus picturatus

The picturesque dragonet 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.
Picturesque Dragonet - Synchiropus picturatus Light brown to greenish covered with large dark spots ringed with orange and green, blue-green band markings around eye. Simiar to the more famous Mandarinfish - Synchiropus splendidus of the group of fish called Dragonets, the males will search for females during sunset to mate. Usually, they are found in groups among coral rubbles. Dragonet,Fish,Indonesia,Komodo,Picturesque dragonet,Synchiropus picturatus

Appearance

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 animal species known to have blue coloring 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.

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassActinopterygii
OrderSyngnathiformes
FamilyCallionymidae
GenusSynchiropus
SpeciesS. picturatus
Photographed in
Indonesia