How to sex a Dragonet

by **D3monic** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:54 pm

Thank god this isnt nano or you guys would have alot of fun with the title.

I have been asked to explain how to tell the difference between Male and Female Dragonets IE Mandarins, Scooters and what ever else my limited knowlege may cover.

First we will go into Mandarins:
Here is a picture of my female Mandarin (sally)

If you note her dorsal fin is primarily rounded. This is a good indication it is a female. Also in this picture she is laden with eggs.

Here is a picture of my Male Mandarin.

You can see here that the dorsal fin has a very prominent spike to it. This is a very good indication it is a male. Of course there are factors that could misslead you. He could of been in a fight and the tip of the dorsal fin has been injured or removed. This could misslead you to believe it is a female. It is also my understanding that the dorsal spike sometimes does not develop early and it could be difficult to sex a juvinile Mandarin.
these facts are for both species of Mandarin Dragonet. Green Mandarin and the Spotted / psychedelic Mandarin.

Here are photos (not mine) of male and female Spotted Mandarins

Female

Male

Scooter Blennies:

Scooters can be alittle more difficult to ID than Mandarins since 75% of the time the LFS has very juvinile ones in stock. The fin facts remain the same. Male scooters will have a short spike on thier dorsal fins and females will not.

Male Scooter:

You can see the large dorsal spike laying down accross his back.

Female : (im pretty sure atleast)

Im not going to go into the more uncommon species of Dragonet since most are not commercially available. That and I really dont have much information on them. If anyone else has any input they would like to share please feal free to do so.

**Sponsor**

Website · by **chris&barb** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:18 pm

D3monic, thanks for doing this :mrgreen:

by **D3monic** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:42 pm

NP hope it helps. If anyone is still unsure of thier little guys sex please feel free to post a good pic of it displaying its dorsal fin and we will do our best to help ID it.