dragonet

American  

[drag-uh-net, drag-uh-nit] / ˌdræg əˈnɛt, ˈdræg ə nɪt /

noun

1. any fish of the genus Callionymus, the species of which are small and usually brightly colored.

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dragonet British  

/ ˈdræɡənɪt /

noun

1. any small spiny-finned fish of the family Callionymidae, having a flat head and a slender tapering brightly coloured body and living at the bottom of shallow seas

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Etymology

Origin of dragonet

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French; see dragon, -et

Example Sentences

The reticulated dragonet fish differs only slightly from other dragnet fish—it has only three spines on its gill cover instead of four, and it has a longer snout.

From Slate • Dec. 26, 2012

The female, or sordid dragonet, was considered by Linnaeus, and by many subsequent naturalists, as a distinct species; it is of a dingy reddish-brown, with the dorsal fin brown and the other fins white.

From The Descent of Man by Darwin, Charles

Why the dragonet snapped at him I have no idea.

From Brothers of Pity and Other Tales of Beasts and Men by Ewing, Juliana Horatia Gatty

The gem-like colours of the male dragonet, the butterfly wings of certain gurnards, and the decorated tails of some exotic carps all point in the same direction.

From Charles Darwin by Allen, Grant

Dracunculus, drā-kun′kū-lus, n. a herbaceous genus of Arace�; a dragonet or goby of genus Callionymus: a genus of worms, the guinea-worm.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various