dragonet

Small, spiny-rayed fish that lives in temperate and tropical seas. The males are larger and brightly coloured with filamentlike rays extending from the first dorsal fin. Females are dull in colour. Dragonets have smooth bodies without scales.

The gill openings are reduced to a single small hole near the nape of the neck and the ventral fins are under the throat. The sculpin Callionymus draco is about 30 cm/12 in long, and is brown and white in colour; the common dragonet C. lyra is yellow, sapphire, and violet in hue.

Classification Dragonets are in the genus Callionymus, order Perciformes, class Osteichthyes.