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Little Dragonfish
Eurypegasus draconis (Linneaus, 1766)
Above and below: A Little Dragonfish at a depth of 6m, Fairy Bower, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2003. View larger image.
View larger image.
A Little Dragonfish at a depth of 10m, Fly Point, Port Stephens, New South Wales. View larger image.
The Little Dragonfish can be recognised by its distinctive shape and bony armour.
This species often resembles pieces of shell or rubble lying on the bottom. It can be extremely difficult to spot underwater because of its impressive camouflage.
Males have a broad blue-white pectoral fin margin which may be "flashed" when the fish is disturbed.
The Little Dragonfish grows to 8cm in length.
It lives in estuaries and silty areas.
The Little Dragonfish occurs in tropical and warm temperate marine waters of the Indian Ocean to the Central Pacific.
In Australia it is known from north-western Western Australia, and from northern Queensland to central New South Wales.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
View a low resolution movie clip (43k) of this species. Go to the movies page for high and low resolution versions.
The genus Eurypegasus has only two species, Eurypegasus draconis and Eurypegasus papilio. These fish are easily separated based on distribution. E.papilio is known only to occur in the Hawaiian Islands.
The other genus in this family is Pegasus. Eurypegasus draconis can be distinguished from Pegasus by the lower number of tail rings, 8 rarely 9, versus 11 or more in Pegasus.
Fishes in the family Pegasidae are generally less than 15cm in length, although specimens up to 18cm have been reported.
Further reading
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Seahorses, Pipefishes and their Relatives. A Comprehensive Guide to Syngnathiformes. TMC Publishing Pp. 240.
- Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen & J.E. Hanley. 1989. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Vol.7 Pisces Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Survey. Pp. i-xii, 1-665.
- Palsson, W.A. & T.W. Pietsch. 1989. Revision of the Acanthopterygian Fish Family Pegasidae (Order Gasterosteiformes). Indo-Pacific Fishes. 18: 1-38.
