Less colourful than most other dragonets, the species has a flecked, sand-coloured upper surface and pale belly. The most distinctive feature is a black patch on the first dorsal fin. The species is moderately common in coastal bays near reef margins in New South Wales, but is apparently restricted to depths below 20 m elsewhere. The distribution of this species is somewhat uncertain, because records from southwestern Australia possibly relate to a similar but different species.

• Max Size: 22 cm
• Sea Temperature Range: 16.4-25.5°C
• Depth: 5-100m
• Habitat: Soft sediment

• IUCN Threat Status: Not Evaluated
• Occurrence: Infrequent (2% of sites)
  Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
• Abundance: Few (3 per transect)
  Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.