Dactylopterus volitans
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Dactylopterus volitans's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation14 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility3 275 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System1 930 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI68 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics70 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans), also known as the helmet gurnard, is a bottom-dwelling fish of tropical to warm temperate waters on both sides of the Atlantic and also the Pacific Ocean. On the American side, it is found as far north as Massachusetts (exceptionally as far as Canada) and as far south as Argentina, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. On the European and African side, it ranges from the English Channel to Angola, including the Mediterranean. This is the only species in the monotypic genus Dactylopterus. Similar and related species from the genus Dactyloptena are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. This fish is variable in coloration, being brownish or greenish with reddish or yellowish patches.Bigelow, H. B. and W. C. Schroeder. [http://www.gma.org/fogm/Dactylopterus_volitans.htm Flying Gurnard, Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus) 1758.] Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Fishery Bulletin 74. United States Fish & Wildlife Service. 1953. When excited, the fish spreads its "wings", which are semi-transparent, with a phosphorescent bright blue coloration at their tips. The fish also has large eyes. It reaches up to 50 cm in length and 1.8 kg in weight. The fish's main diet consists of small fish, bivalves, and crustaceans.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Habitat & environment3
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Dactylopterus volitans has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Dactylopterus volitans carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type5 205 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions24 of 68 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Cambridge, US | 123 |
| Washington, US | 105 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 98 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 41 |
| Paris, FR | 41 |
| Chicago, US | 25 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 24 |
| Tapachula, MX | 22 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 21 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 19 |
| Stockholm, SE | 17 |
| UFESlocation not on record | 14 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 14 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 14 |
| CASlocation not on record | 14 |
| Toronto, CA | 11 |
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 11 |
| 11 | |
| New Haven, US | 10 |
| Los Angeles, US | 10 |
| Barcelona, ES | 9 |
| ICATMARlocation not on record | 9 |
| INMAlocation not on record | 9 |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 8 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 8 |
| IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record | 7 |
| USP-RPlocation not on record | 7 |
| National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record | 7 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 6 |
| UFRRJlocation not on record | 6 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 6 |
| South Kensington, GB | 6 |
| DASSHlocation not on record | 5 |
| Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record | 5 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 5 |
| Museo de Historia Natural da Universidade de Santiago de Compostelalocation not on record | 5 |
| Helsinki, FI | 3 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 3 |
| San Nicolás de los Garza, MX | 2 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 2 |
| Morelia, MX | 2 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 2 |
| Geneva, CH | 2 |
| Bergen, NO | 2 |
| Banyoles, ES | 2 |
| ICM-CSIClocation not on record | 2 |
| Nova Scotia Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 2 |
| SMNHTAUlocation not on record | 2 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 2 |
| Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)location not on record | 1 |
| Instituto para la Investigación y la Preservación del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural del Valle del Cauca - INCIVAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 1 |
| Turkmen Agricultural University named after S.A. Niyazovlocation not on record | 1 |
| Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratorylocation not on record | 1 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 1 |
| Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservationlocation not on record | 1 |
| Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgiquelocation not on record | 1 |
| Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Nebraskalocation not on record | 1 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 1 |
| Montgomery, US | 1 |
| Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii Polskiej Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 1 |
| Vancouver, CA | 1 |
| PNHSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad del Tolima (UT)location not on record | 1 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Dactylopterus volitans was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.