The little dragonfish or short dragonfish (''Eurypegasus draconis'') 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 marine

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pegasidae The seamoths make up a family of fishes, the Pegasidae, within the order Syngnathiformes. They are named for Pegasus, a creature from Greek mythology. Seamoths are notable for their unusual appearance, including flattened bodies, the presence of ...

. It is widespread throughout the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

waters of the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

, including the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. The little dragonfish can grow up to length. It sheds its skin in one piece. Millions of these kind of fish are sold for traditional medicine each year in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

alone.''Eurypegasus draconis'' Short Dragonfish
Encyclopedia of Life

References

External links

*http://fran.cornu.free.fr/affichage/affichage_nom.php?id_espece=729 *http://australianmuseum.net.au/Little-Dragonfish-Eurypegasus-draconis/ *http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=218161 *

little dragonfish The little dragonfish or short dragonfish (''Eurypegasus draconis'') is a species of marine fish in the Family (biology), family Pegasidae. It is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, including the Red Sea. The little dr ...

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Gasterosteiformes-stub