The common dragonet (''Callionymus lyra'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

dragonet Dragonets are small Percomorpha, percomorph marine fish of the diverse family Callionymidae (from the Greek language, Greek ''kallis'', "beautiful" and ', "name") found mainly in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific. They are Benthos, ...

which is widely distributed in the eastern North Atlantic where it is common near Europe from Norway and Iceland southwards. It is a demersal species that occurs over sand bottoms. It lives to a maximum age of around seven years. It is caught in bycatch by fisheries and is used in the aquarium trade.

Description

The common dragonet has a broad, triangular, flattened head with a long snout and protruding lower jaw, the body is also flattened, although the tail is rounded. The eyes are placed on the top head and the gills are alo on the upper part of the body. The preopercular bone is strongly hooked and has four robust spines, the front facing forwards and the other three face rearwards. The adults are

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

and the mature males have elongate rays in their

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

and

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

s. The second dorsal fin is yellowish with bright blue longitudinal stripes and they have bright blue marks on the head and body. The females and immature males are brown, paler on the underside, with a series of 6 brown blotches along their flanks. There are three symmetrical brown saddle-like blotches along the back with indistinct darker longitudinal stripes on their second dorsal fin. The females are normally smaller than the males with an average total length of long and the larger males grow up to . Their colour and patterning mean that common dragonets are well camouflaged on coarse sand or gravel substrates. When the common dragonet is at rest on the seabed its fins are often folded. Callionymus lyra 02

Distribution

The common dragonet is found in inshore waters in the eastern North Atlantic from Iceland and Norway in the north through the western coasts of Europe to Mauritania, as well as the islands groups of the

Faroes The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

, the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

, the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

and the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

. It also occurs throughout the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Habitat and biology

The common dragonet is a demersal species which is occurs from the

sublittoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely in ...

zone to depths of up to , although it is most frequently found between and . It is found in temperate waters with a water temperature of . It spends most of its time on the seabed partially buried in sand or shell gravel. When it is buried in the substrate only the head and eyes will protrude and the fish may emerge quickly to feed. They are opportunistic feeders which will prey on whichever suitable prey species are most abundant, Abstract it feeds mostly on small invertebrates, such as worms and crustaceans, for example in one study crustaceans were found to make up over 85% of the identifiable diet with the porcelain crab '' Pisidia longicornis'' making up 43%. Molluscs, especially cockles, are also preyed upon by common dragonets. Common dragonets are an important prey item of

Atlantic cod The Atlantic cod (: cod; ''Gadus morhua'') is a fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as '' cod'' or ''codling''.pouting in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

. Male common dragonets are territorial and they aggressively defend their territories from other males. Unlike many species of pelagic spawning fish the common dragonet spawns as a pair. They have quite an elaborate courtship in which the male approaches the female, spreading his pectoral fins and erecting both dorsal fins, displaying their colours, while simultaneously repeatedly raising his head and opening his mouth very wide. If the female responds to this display the male becomes more excited and eventually the pair swim, with the female resting on the pectoral fins of the male, vertically to the surface where the eggs and milt are released between their bodies to be fertilised. After fertilisation the eggs drift away in the current. The eggs,

larvae A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect developmental biology, development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typical ...

and postlarvae of common dragonets are pelagic while the juveniles prefer the intertidal zone.

Human uses

This species is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can be found displayed in public

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q132895 common dragonet Fish of Europe Fish of the East Atlantic Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Fish of the Black Sea Fish of the North Sea Marine fish of North Africa common dragonet common dragonet