Family Apogonidae

This family underwent a major revision (Mabuchi et al., 2014) and the new names are now reflected here. You can also find out more about the cardinalfishes at the WildSingapore cardinalfish page. Another useful resource is the compilation of local cardinalfish by Ng and Lim (2014).

Nectamia bandanensis (Banda or Bigeye Cardinalfish)
Described by Allen et al. (2007) as Apogon bandanensis, with “brown with 3-4 narrow, indistinct bars, a wedge-shaped dark mark below the eye, whitish tail base with a dark bar”.

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Ostorhinchus cavitiensis (Caviti Cardinalfish .)
Described in Allen et al. (2007) as Apogon cavitiensis, this species has a bronze mid-lateral stripe with silvery white margins and a narrow yellow stripe on the back, with small dark spot on the front middle of the tail. Grows up to 8cm.

Photo by Eunice Khoo

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Ostorhinchus compressus (Split-banded cardinalfish)
Formerly named as Apogon compressus, this cardinalfish has a distinctive middle band that splits just behind the eye, and iridescent blue lines around its eye. Grows up to 12cm.

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Ostorhinchus endekataenia (Sixstripe Cardinalfish)
Described in Allen et al. (2007) as Apogon endekataenia it has 6 red-brown stripes with incomplete strips or rows of spots between, and a large black spot on tail base. Grows to 14cm.

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Ostorhinchus margaritophorus (Chequered or Redstriped cardinalfish)
Described in Lim and Low (1998) as Apogon margaritophorus, this species has red and white strips on side of body; the broad white mid-lateral line stripe is broken at intervals forming a chequered pattern. Grows up to 5cm.

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Pristicon trimaculatus (Three-spot cardinalfish)
A fairly large cardinal, growing up to 15cm. It is usually seen it at night, and it is very camera/light shy. Described in Lim and Low (1998) as Apogon trimaculatus, but recent revisions in this family resulted in it being renamed to Pristicon trimaculatus.

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Archamia bleekeri (Yellowmouth Cardinalfish)
Closest match from Allen et al. (2007). Body is almost translucent with silvery reflections. The snout is yellow (not seen in this photo), with a black spot on the mid-tail base. Grows to 9cm.

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Cheilodipterus macrodon (Tiger Cardinalfish)
One of the largest of the cardinalfishes, this predator grows to about 20cm. Resembles C. artus, but have wider stripes with darker interspace.

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Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus (Five-lined Cardinalfish)
As their name suggests, this cardinalfish has five dark lines on its body, and a yellow blotch with a dark center on the caudal peduncle. Grows to 12cm.

If you look very carefully, the one pictured has eggs in its mouth, which means that it is a male.

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Sphaeremia nemoptera (Pajama Cardinalfish)
This 10-cm long cardinalfish is distinctively coloured and distinguished from other apogonids by its deep body, red eyes, yellow head, and a broad black band on the middle of its body followed by a pinkish hindquarters with brown spots. Was previously reported by Low & Chou (1992), and mentioned in Ng and Wee (1994), as a vulnerable species in Singapore. Apparently, its occurrence in Singapore waters was substantiated for the first time by Low (2013).

References

Allen, G, R Steene, P Humann and N deLoach, 2007. Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific. Odyssey Publishing, USA. 457pp.

Lim, KKP and JKY Low, 1998. A guide to common marine fishes of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre. 163pp.

Mabuchi, K, TH Fraser, H Song, Y Azuma and M Nishida, 2014. Revision of the systematics of the cardinalfishes (Percomorpha: Apogonidae) based on molecular analyses and comparative reevaluation of morphological characters. Zootaxa 3846 (2): 151–203.

Ng, HH and KKP Lim, 2014. A preliminary checklist of the cardinalfishes (Actinopterygii: Gobiiformes: Apogonidae) of Singapore. Check List 10(5): 1061–1070.