Toothy Cardinalfish

Cheilodipterus isostigmus is a tropical fish species that is a member of the Apogonidae fish family which is the "Cardinalfishes".

Description

It looks almost identical in appearance to the Five Lined Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus) however it differs slightly by having the black spot at the base of the tail slightly above the line of the mid-lateral stripe. The body is light grey to silver in colour with 5 black stripes and there are canine teeth at the front of the lower jaw. Yellow tail base with black spot slightly above line of mid-stripe. The Toothy Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus isostigmus) grows to a maximum length of approximately 11 cm.

Distribution

This species can be found in the warm waters of the Asian-Pacific region and is known to occur in the South China Sea, the Philippines, Marshall Islands in Micronesia and Vanuatu.

Habitat and Biology

It forms small groups and hides amongst branching corals in sheltered coral reefs and lagoons. Depth is 4-40 m. It feeds on small fish. 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.