Frogfish and Dragonets Codexery

Synchiropus phaeton

A benthic dragonet of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic.

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Synchiropus phaeton

Jo Langeneck · via Wikipedia: Synchiropus phaeton · CC BY-SA 4.0

Synchiropus phaeton, also called the Phaeton dragonet, is a bony fish in the family Callionymidae.[1] The species is classified as Least Concern and its population is thought to be highly abundant.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. DivisionTeleostei
  5. OrderSyngnathiformes
  6. FamilyCallionymidae
  7. GenusSynchiropus
  8. SpeciesSynchiropus phaeton

Named by (Günther, 1861)

Close relatives

Other species of Synchiropus with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Synchiropus phaeton (CC BY-SA 4.0) · differs from this box at order: WoRMS AphiaID 126798 (CC BY 4.0)

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

  1. LC▲ this species
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX
Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
2015

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

How big is it?

Size comparison: Synchiropus phaeton and a personA 0.2 m long synchiropus phaeton drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.0.2 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 0.2 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

Diagram: drawn by Codexery, schematic shapes to scale (not a likeness). Length: Wikipedia: Synchiropus phaeton

Where the synchiropus phaeton has been recorded

Where the synchiropus phaeton has been recorded127 mapped locations from 1,387 GBIF occurrence records; marked places: Mediterranean SeaMediterranean Sea

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (1,387 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 38 inland records left out (institution coordinates). 4 isolated far-off records not drawn.

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain) · place coordinates: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Biology and range

This benthic deep-water species lives at depths of 80–650 m on muddy and sandy bottoms.[3] The range extends from Portugal and the Azores to Gabon, and across the Mediterranean to Cyprus and Israel.[4] According to Bañón (2018), male specimens reach lengths of 10–14 cm, with the greatest recorded total length being 18 cm.[5] A pinkish to silvery hue characterizes the ventral area.[6]

Males exhibit territoriality and show aggression toward conspecific males.[3] In the Mediterranean, spawning takes place from June through September, with both eggs and larvae being pelagic.[6]

What the specialist sources record

The World Register of Marine Species lists Synchiropus phaeton as an accepted species in the family Callionymidae, order Callionymiformes.[7] GBIF records 1,552 occurrence records for this taxon as of 7 October 2026.[8] This species is incidentally caught in Senegal's octopus fishery and in Mediterranean bottom trawl operations.[2]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Synchiropus phaeton" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Günther, "Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian fishes in the collection of the British Museum", 1861, p. XXV + 586; Froese, "Synchiropus phaeton (Günther, 1861)", FishBase, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Synchiropus phaeton" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith-Vaniz, W.F., "Synchiropus phaeton", 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Synchiropus phaeton" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Phaeton dragonet (Synchiropus phaeton)", Adriatic Nature (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Synchiropus phaeton" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Synchiropus phaeton (Günther, 1861)", Global Biodiversity Information Facility (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Synchiropus phaeton" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bañón, "Northernmost record and new biological data of the Phaeton dragonet Synchiropus phaeton (Callionymiformes: Callionymidae) in the eastern Atlantic.", Cybium, 2018, p. 289–292 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Synchiropus phaeton" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davis, "Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA)", JNICT/UNESCO, 1990, p. 921–924 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. World Register of Marine Species, Synchiropus phaeton (AphiaID 126798). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
  8. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Synchiropus phaeton (taxon key 2386690). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Synchiropus phaeton (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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