The sailfin dragonet (''Callionymus pusillus'') 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 common in the Eastern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, where it occurs on the Portuguese coast to as far north as

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

and south to Morocco, and also in the northern Mediterranean including the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

, Aegean and

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

seas as well as the coasts

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. It occurs on the southern Mediterranean shore as far east as Tunisia Males of this species grows to a length of TL while females reach a length of TL. In the areas of the Mediterranean where it occurs it is one of the commonest dragonet species, as it is the only species that has been recorded within many protected areas. It is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

species which occurs in shallow waters and prefers sandy bottoms down to . The males are territorial, aggressively defend their territories from other males and like other dragonets this species undergoes complex breeding behaviour which has 4 phases. This starts with courtship, the male and female then form a pair before ascending to the surface where they release eggs and milt. The spawning season runs from May to August in the Mediterranean and the eggs and larvae are

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...

. This species feeds mainly on small benthic invertebrates such as worms and small

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

. The sailfin dragonet has three upwardly directed spines on the

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

and differs from other species of dragonet by having a first

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

which is lower than the second dorsal fin. The second dorsal fin has long rays which extend into long filaments. These filaments extend beyond the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. The male is brightly coloured with 14 to 16 silvery transverse lines fringed with black on its body and with blue streaks on the fins. The female is beige with small whitish spots.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q262148 P Fish of Europe Fish of West Asia Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Fish of the Black Sea Fish described in 1809 Taxa named by François-Étienne de La Roche