Rare Ruby Sea Dragon

Rare ruby seadragon caught on video for the first time.

Rare ruby sea dragon.

Blue dragon sea slug. The ruby seadragon isn t a mythical creature but like its cousins the common and leafy seadragons this rare fish looks like the stuff of fantasy. Besides the discovery being amazing in its own right there was still so much the scientists could finally learn from their incredibly rare footage. For instance they could now study not only the ruby seadragons anatomy but their behaviors as well.

In 2015 we described a new species of seadragon phyllopteryx dewysea the ruby seadragon. This gorgeous little nudibranch of just 2 3 inches long is packed with surprises. A specimen found on shore in 2007 was 23 5 cm 9 3 in long. While this was an exciting discovery a live ruby sea dragon had never been recorded neither by divers nor those in the fishing.

Until recently only two species of seadragon were known phycodurus eques the leafy seadragon and phyllopteryx taeniolatus the common seadragon both from australia. The ruby seadragon phyllopteryx dewysea is a marine fish in the family syngnathidae which also includes seahorses it inhabits the coast of western australia the species was first described in 2015 making it only the third known species of seadragon and the first to be discovered in 150 years. Much like the seahorse the leafy seadragon s name is derived from its resemblance to another creature in this case the mythical dragon while not large they are slightly larger than most seahorses growing to about 20 24 cm 8 9 5 in. They feed on plankton and small crustaceans.

These rare seadragons were captured live on camera for the first time ever in the recherche archipelago in western australia.