Mandarinfish

The mandarinfish is one of the most vividly coloured fish on the reef, small enough to miss but impossible to forget once spotted. It reaches only about 7 cm long, and stays close to the bottom of sheltered reefs.

Also known as: synchiropus splendidus, mandarin-fish

Its body shape looks much like a goby's, but no goby carries this fish's neon blue-and-orange swirling pattern, which makes it easy to tell apart at a glance.

This fish has a goby-like body shape but wears a bright blue background covered in swirling orange stripes, with a blue-green face marked by bold blue lines. Its eyes are usually red with black pupils. Large fins on its underside let it 'walk' across the seafloor, and males carry a tall, orange-and-blue dorsal fin along their back.

It feeds during the day, pecking at tiny prey living on coral and rubble. Its diet is made up of small crustaceans and worms, along with small snails and fish eggs it finds hidden in the substrate.

harmless

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  Common Dragonet

  Callionymus lyra

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  Sailfin dragonet

  Callionymus pusillus