Green mandarin

Synchiropus splendidus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth1–15 m
Water temperature24–30 °C
Best monthsJanuary, March, and April
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Lakshmi Sawitri, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Synchiropus splendidus, the mandarinfish or mandarin dragonet, is a small, brightly colored member of the dragonet family, which is popular in the saltwater aquarium trade. The mandarinfish is native to the Pacific, ranging approximately from the Ryukyu Islands south to Australia. It can usually be found in some of the warmer waters.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Synchiropus splendidus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 49 records
February: 33 records
March: 59 records
April: 56 records
May: 48 records
June: 26 records
July: 32 records
August: 37 records
September: 37 records
October: 47 records
November: 40 records
December: 43 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–15 m · Deepest record: 287 m

0–10 m: 37 records
10–20 m: 4 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–30 °C

24–26 °C: 8 records
26–28 °C: 4 records
28–30 °C: 53 records

Photos

(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ioannis Magouras, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Armin G. Fabritzek, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Green mandarin, Mandarin dragonet, Mandarin-fish, Mandarinfish, Splendid Mandarinfish

Names in 8 more languages

German: Mandarinfisch, Mandarin-Leierfisch
Spanish: Pez Mandarín Dragón
French: Poisson mandarin
Indonesian: Ikan mandarin
Japanese: Nishiki-teguri, ニシキテグリ
Korean: 만다린피시
Thai: ปลามังกรน้อยแมนดาริน, ปลาแมนดาริน
Simplified Chinese: 狗圻, 老鼠, 花斑翼連鰭, 花斑連鰭䲗, 花斑連鰭, 青蛙

Other scientific names: Callionymus splendidus, Neosynchiropus splendidus, Pterosynchiropus splendidus

Similar species

Morrison's Dragonet
Synchiropus morrisoni
Bartel's Dragonet
Synchiropus bartelsi
Synchiropus delandi
Kiyo’s Dragonet
Synchiropus kiyoae
Finger Dragonet
Dactylopus dactylopus
Common Dragonet
Callionymus enneactis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
179 open-data records from 1954 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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