Pale base colour with eight broad brown stripes. Tail base whitish with indistinct dark spot or patch. Tail fin sometimes with dark upper and lower edges. Alternating stripes faint or thin in juveniles, which also have yellow heads and more distinct black spot on tail base. Body stripes wider than C. intermedius (Intermediate Cardinalfish) and C. artus (Wolf Cardinalfish).

• Max Size: 25 cm
• Sea Temperature Range: 20.0-31.2°C
• Depth: 0-40m
• Habitat: Coral Reef, Rocky Reef
• Habitat Generalisation Index: 17.8
  Also referred to as the SGI (Species generalisation index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here

• IUCN Threat Status: Not Evaluated
• Occurrence: Frequent (16% of sites)
  Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
• Abundance: Few (3 per transect)
  Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.