WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Pajama Cardinalfish

Sphaeramia nematoptera

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

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2022
Adult
@fishx6 · Lembeh, Indonesia · August 20081 / 7
01

Overview

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.

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.

02

How to identify

Head & Mouth
orange eye

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Indo-Pacific
  • Country only · 6
LIVES IN

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.

04

Adult photos 7

06

Discussion

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    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

    Deep dive

    Taxonomy

    1. kingdomAnimalia
    2. phylumChordata
    3. classTeleostei
    4. orderApogoniformes
    5. familyApogonidae
    6. genusSphaeramia
    7. speciesSphaeramia nematoptera (Bleeker, 1856)

    SourcesWoRMSFishBase

    07

    More in the family

    Cardinalfishes (Apogonidae)