dragonets

What species do you think these are? Callionymus enneactis? Synchiropus stellatus? S. morrisoni?

I dont have my ID book here and fishbase doesnt have the best id images..

Thanks,

Cor

I think your first is Ocellated dragonet. The body pattern is similar in Synchiropus moyeri and Synchiropus ocellatus, which both apparently have a dorsal fin with "a pair of dark ocellated spots", but my reference doesn't show it. I think it may be the latter because of the blue dots on the head area. The last photo appears to be a different critter, due to the black blotch at the base of the pectoral fin, which would seem to make it Sychiropus morrisoni.

Cheers,

Marli

Hi Cor,

the first ones are exactly the same which are figured in the asia pacific reef guide (debelius) as synchiropus moyeri.

the second shot looks like an excellent picture of male and female ocellatus, who seems to appear very variable

when you look at the fishbase-google pics. so may be pic 3 is the same species? (juveniles?)

with pic4 i agree to marli, it could be synchiropus morrisoni ( stellatus is restricted to the indian ocean area).

very interesting family, the dragonets, did you see the pictures from uncle-masaki ? (fishbase-google)

best regards,

beo

Hi Beo! Great to see you here.

Did you see the eggs in image 2? Image 3 are almost certainly not juveniles, we watched them perform their normal mating sequence with a male in there trying to impress them. These are 2 females I think.

Dragonets are very cool critters

Cor

What species do you think these are? Callionymus enneactis? Synchiropus stellatus? S. morrisoni?

I dont have my ID book here and fishbase doesnt have the best id images..

 

Thanks,

 

Cor

 

 

Where did you take those beautiful shots???

These images were taken by my wife in the Solomon Islands. It takes a LOT of patience and perseverance, and most of these shots need to be taken within a split second. My own arent nearly as good

Cor