Description

Also known as Coral Cardinalfish, Nurseryfish, Polkadot Cardinalfish, Pyjama Cardinal, Pyjama-spotted Cardinalfish, Spotted Cardinalfish.

Found in small schools, during the day sheltering in branching thickets of Porites cylindrica, and Porites nigrescens, over protected bays and lagoons, dispersing at night to feed close to the bottom.
They feed nocturnally on crustaceans and zooplankton.
Length - 8cm
Depth - 1-14m
Widespread Indo-Pacific

Males incubate their eggs inside their mouths, as the egg masses increase in size they can be found with wide open mouths where they shift the eggs around to aerate the egg masses. Ref: https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Sphaeramia-nematoptera.html