The picturesque dragonet (''Synchiropus picturatus'') is a brightly colored member of the dragonet family native to the

Indo-West Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the s ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, eastern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and northwest

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 ''Synchiropus splendidus'', the mandarinfish or mandarin dragonet, is a small, brightly colored member of the dragonet family, which is popular in the saltwater aquarium trade. The mandarinfish is native to the Pacific, ranging approximately from ...

''. The name "cyanophore" was proposed for the blue

chromatophore Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopod A cephalopod is any member o ...

s, or pigment-containing and light-reflecting cells. In all other known cases, the colour blue comes from thin-film

interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extra ...

from piles of flat, thin and reflecting

purine Purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound that consists of two rings (pyrimidine and imidazole) fused together. It is water-soluble. Purine also gives its name to the wider class of molecules, purines, which include substituted puri ...

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. Benoit, T. F.-C. (2024). Picturesque dragonet • synchiropus picturatus • fish sheet. Fishipedia. https://www.fishi-pedia.com/fishes/synchiropus-picturatus

References

External links

* * * * Practical Fishkeepin
Psychedelic mandarinfish
* picturesque dragonet Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of the Philippines Fish of Indonesia picturesque dragonet picturesque dragonet {{Callionymidae-stub