Mandarinfish
Mandarin fish ( Synchiropus splendidus )
The mandarin fish ( Synchiropus splendidus ) was first described in the genus Callionymus and within the family of Dragonets ( Callionymidae ) today placed in the genus Synchiropus. It is often performed under the synonym Pterosynchiropus splendidus.
Natural Occurrence
The Mandarin fish lives mainly in protected lagoons and coastal reefs. It occurs at depths of up to 18 meters, where he often wants to be close to the sandy and muddy seabed. The mandarin fish is particularly widespread in the western Indo-Pacific, its range extends over the Philippines, Japan, Africa and Sri Lanka as far away as Australia.
Morphology
The mandarin fish is particularly striking with its bright, colorful exterior. The entire body surface has a blue to turquoise color which is traversed by irregular reddish or brownish stripes. The head is usually green to yellowish in color and go to the sides of the head, the stripes in yellow points above. The belly is barely pigmented compared to the darker back; he usually has a light blue to white color. Rather than shed includes the mandarin fish on a firm and slimy skin that gives off a foul odor when the fish comes to the air. The mucus layer on the skin to protect the fish against parasites and diseases. The mandarin fish can reach a body length of 5-8 cm, the males are slightly larger and more massive than the females. The male has a significantly longer first dorsal fin ray, which is formed in the female very short.
In addition to its distinctive coloration you can see the Mandarin fish also to its relatively large pelvic fins, as well. Raised to the eyes and the typical tapered mouth of the dragonets
Nutrition
The carnivore Mandarin fish feeds predatory. The feeding behavior of the fish is often referred to as erpicken because the snapping for food at the lyre fish looks like the pecking of a bird. Since he has a small mouth, he eats mainly small invertebrates.
Behavior
Dragonets not float like other fish in the water, but move with the help of the pelvic fins bobbing up slowly sliding away. Usually they keep doing with their pelvic fins contact to the ground. In search of food they move slowly. However, they are capable of when they have to flee to fast movements.
Reproduction
The pairing of the mandarin fish is a particularly gladly seen spectacle with divers. It takes place during the evening twilight. First, the male swims around the waiting females and tries by spreading and hitting the fin to gain his attention. If a male is successful, it leads the female belly to belly slowly floating towards the water surface. Once they have reached a certain height, they can fall again and then begin again side by side to ascend. This ritualized behavior is used to synchronize the actual spawning process in which the partners put their anal fins each other and thus form a groove in which the eggs are laid and fertilized. Once this is done, dissolves the couple and dive quickly back down to the ocean floor. The eggs and larvae hatching after 24 hours pelagic larvae develop.
Development
By the fifth day of life, the larvae are yellow and then change to an orange -red color. Your head will gradually widens and takes on its typical coloration, while the body is thicker. But stick to continue floating in the surface ocean, since there is the supply of easily digestible microorganisms greatest. After 14 days the larvae reach a size of 3.5 mm.
When the larvae are two to three weeks old and 3.5 to 4 mm long, they leave the open water and go to a substrate-near life on the reef and the ocean floor. The shape is that of the parents always similar and at the age of seven to eight weeks, they also develop a first complex green-brown body coloration with yellow speckles. At the age of about three months, they have reached the typical appearance of their parents. Young males begin around the age of six months, other males against aggressive behavior. Half a year later they try to participate in the reproductive events.
Relevance to humans
Mandarin fish are because of their colors coveted fish for the saltwater aquarium and are traded as wild-caught world.