The blotchfin dragonet (''Callionymus filamentosus'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
dragonet
Dragonets are small, percomorph, marine fish of the diverse family Callionymidae (from the Greek ''kallis'', "beautiful" and ', "name") found mainly in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific. They are benthic organisms, spending most ...
native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. It also now occurs in 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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, where it was first recorded in 1953 off Israel.
It has since been observed in Cyprus, Lebanon, Turkey and Rhodes (Greece). This species occurs at depths from 16 to 350 m and can grows to a length of 20 cm.
References
B
Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes
Fish described in 1837
{{Callionymidae-stub