A small cryptic dragonet with a fold of skin running along the lower flank.
A dragonet to about 6 cm, mottled brown, olive and cream, with dark saddles across the back and a scatter of pale flecks over the flank. The character that places it is a longitudinal fold of skin running low along each side of the body; the other small dragonets on the same ground have nothing similar. Males carry a taller first dorsal fin than females.
It lives on silty sand, fine rubble and low weed, and it moves in short hops on the pelvic fins rather than swimming. It holds still for long periods and its outline breaks up against mixed ground, so most sightings are of an animal that moved first. Recorded from about 2 to 20 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
