There have been reports of two different dragonet sightings of interest lately. One of them concerns the Orange and Black Dragonet, Dactylopus kuiteri. This was discussed in an Australasian Fishes post.
Three sightings by a Sue Churchill at Low Isles in northern Queensland in 2015 were only posted to iNaturalist in 2026.
According to https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations?taxon_id=272560 , Sue Churchill discovered the fish on three separate dives on three separate dives in February 2015. Eleven years later, in 2026, she posted the 3 sightings on iNaturalist three separate times – https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/334189271 , https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/334189273 and https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/334189303 .
According to the Australasian Fishes post, the observation of the Orange and Black Dragonet, Dactylopus kuiteri “has potentially added a new species to the Australian fish fauna. ….. While previously known from Western Central Pacific including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, this appears to be the first confirmed record of the species in Australian waters.”
The post goes on to describe how the identification of this fish relied on several morphological traits.
There is an ‘Audio Discussion’ on the post that is said to be “definitely worth a listen”.
We have had our own dragonet news here in South Australia. Marine Life Society of SA member, David Muirhead discovered a Spotted dragonet, Callionymus calcaratus at Second Valley during a night dive on 6/3/26: –
He also saw one there the next day: –
According to https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/56074-Callionymidae, the Spotted dragonet, Callionymus calcaratus belongs to the Family Callionymidae. The Orange and Black Dragonet, Dactylopus kuiteri also belongs to the Family Callionymidae.
It was left to me to report David’s Spotted dragonet sightings to Redmap, the Range Extension Database & Mapping project. Redmap “invites the Australian community to spot, log and map marine species that are uncommon in Australia, or along particular parts of our coast”.
The Spotted dragonet sightings were reviewed and verified for Redmap by Daniel Easton from the Department for Environment and Water.
(My thanks go to all concerned -Sue & David, iNat & Redmap, Australasian Fishes, Daniel Easton, Rudy Kuiter, etc..)
