D I S C O V E R   L I F E      Home • IDnature guides • Global mapper • Search • Help

• large eyes on top pointed head
• 1st dorsal fin iv
• mouth small, top jaw protrusible
• preopercle: large hooked spine
• no scales

DRAGONETS

Dragonets have no scales; a small mouth with a protrusible top jaw; a large spine on the preoperculum, but no spines or the operculum; gill openings that are small and high on the shoulder; two dorsal fins, the first with IV flexible spines and 6-11 soft rays, and an anal fin with 4-10 rays and no spines; lateral line complete.

The family, which is found in tropical and temperate seas worldwide, has 18 genera and 130 species. There is a single endemic species in the eastern Pacific.

References

• Böhlke , and Cohen,., 1957., The eastern Pacific species of Callionymus., Copeia, 1957:159-160.
• Castro-Aguirre, J.L., 1991., Nuevos registros de peces mesopelágicos y bentónicos en el Golfo de California, México., Anales de la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicas de Mexico, 35:71-89.
• De la Cruz , J. , Galvan , F. , Abitia , L. A. , Rodriguez , J. and Gutierrez, F. J., 1994., Lista sistematica de los peces marinos de Bahia Magdalena, Baja California Sur (Mexico). Systematic List of marine fishes from Bahia Magdalena, Baja California Sur (Mexico)., Ciencias Marinas, 20:17-31.
• Findley, L.T., Hendrickx, M.E., Brusca, R.C., van der Heiden, A.M., Hastings, P.A., Torre, J., 2003., Diversidad de la Macrofauna Marina del Golfo de California, Mexico., CD-ROM versión 1.0. Projecto de la Macrofauna del Golfo .  Derechos reservados de los autores y Conservación Internacional.
• Fricke, R., 1981., Revision of the genus Synchiropus (Teleostei: Callionymidae)., J. Cramer.:194pp.
• Galván-Magaña, F., Gutiérrez-Sánchez, F., Abitia-Cárdenas, L.A., Rodríguez-Romero, J., 2000., The distribution and affinities of the shore fishes of the Baja California Sur lagoons. In Aquatic Ecosystems of Mexico: Status and Scope. Eds. M. Manuwar, S.G. Lawrence, I.F. Manuwar & D.F. Malley. Ecovision World Monograph Series., Backhuys Publishers:383-398.
• Garman, S., 1899., The Fishes. In: Reports of an exploration off the west coasts of Mexico, Central and South America, and off the Galapagos Islands, ... by the U.S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross," during 1891. L.C.Z.L. Tannar, U.S.N. commanding XXVI., Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 24:432pp.
• Jimenez-Prado, P., Béarez, P., 2004., Peces marinos del Ecuador continental / Marine fishes of continental Ecuador., SIMBIOE/NAZCA/IFEA tomo 1 y 2.
• Lea, R.N. and Rosenblatt, R.H., 2000., Observations on fishes associated with the 1997-1998 El Niño off California., CalCOFL Rep., 41:117-129.
• Lopez , M. I. and Bussing, W. A., 1982., Lista provisional de los peces marinos de la Costa Rica., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 30(1):5-26.
• Love, M.S., Mecklenburg, C.W., Mecklenburg, T.A., Thorsteinson, L.K., 2005., es of the West Coast and Alaska: a checklist of North Pacific and Artic Ocena species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border., U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, 288pp.
• Nelson, J.S., 1984., Fishes of the World (Third edition)., John Wiley and Sons:523pp.
• Rodríguez-Romero, J., Abitia-Cardenas, L.A., Aguilar-Palomino, B., 1993., Range extension and first record of some marine fish in Baja California, Mexico., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 41:917-919.