The reticulated dragonet (''Callionymus reticulatus'') 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 ...

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 northeastern

Atlantic Ocean 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 ...

and 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 is found at depths of from . This species grows to a length of TL. This species has a flattened head and body, the head has a triangular shape with the eyes placed on the top of the head. It has two

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 ...

s with the first one being triangular in shape. It has blue spots along the flanks and four saddle-like markings on their backs which have sharply defined outlines. It is similar to the

common dragonet The common dragonet (''Callionymus lyra'') is a species of dragonet which is widely distributed in the eastern North Atlantic where it is common near Europe from Norway and Iceland southwards. It is a demersal species that occurs over sand bottom ...

but is distinguished by its smaller size and the sharply defined border around the saddle markings on the back. The reticulated dragonet is found only in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Norway Morocco, including the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, and into the western Mediterranean Sea at least as far as Malaga. In the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

it has been recorded as far east as the

Kattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...

. The reticulated dragonet is a

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

species that occurs in inshore waters, even in the intertidal zone, over sandy substrates. Its prefers shallow, soft substrates, often in estuarine environments, although it has been recorded as deep as . A survey compared seagrass beds and unvegetated habitats did not find this species in seagrass beds and recorded it in low numbers in the unvegetated habitats. Its eggs and larvae are pelagic. Its food is mainly small

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 ...

invertebrates, mainly worms and crustaceans. In the

its spawning season extends from March to June.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2105433 R Fish described in 1837