Slender Cardinalfish

Q: Where can you find Slender Cardinalfish?

Slender Cardinalfish can be found in: Bali, Laccadive Islands, Mariana Islands, Australia West, Malaysia East, Taiwan, Australia North, Marshall Islands, Malaysia West, Somalia East, Brunei, Myanmar, Australia, Hong Kong, Kenya, India, Japan South, India East, India West, Thailand East, Thailand West, Indo-Pacific West, Australia East, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, Seychelles, Indo-Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Tanzania, Malaysia, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Chagos Islands, Mozambique, Palau, Philippines, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Micronesia, Tonga and Samoa, Mascarene Islands, Madagascar, Pakistan, Comoros, Fiji, Thailand, Somalia.

Rhabdamia gracilis

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Max Depth

91 m

Rhabdamia gracilis is a species of cardinalfishes native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Other names: Luminous Cardinalfish, Slender Cardinal or Slender Cardinal-fish

Description

An almost transparent cardinalfish with a silvery head and abdomen, a black tip on one or both caudal-fin lobes, a bluish mid-lateral stripe, and a reddish patch on the gill cover behind the eye. Females larger than 4 cm SL have one or two dark stripes/spots along the sides, which are absent in males and smaller females.

Dorsal spines (total): 7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9; Anal spines: 2; Anal soft rays: 12 - 13. This species is distinguished by the following characters: bluish longitudinal stripe on the middle of the body; translucent white or pink, silvery on head and abdomen; caudal peduncle sometimes with a posteriorly placed black spot; characterized further by one or both caudal fin lobes having black tip; greatest depth of body 3.3-3.6 in SL.

Distribution

Houtman Abrolhos Islands, and offshore reefs of north Western Australia, and Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Timor Sea, to Sydney, New South Wales; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs in the tropical, Indo-west-central Pacific, from East Africa to the Marshall Islands, and north to Japan. Forms large dense schools in gutters and above the reef.