Rhabdamia cypselurus

Schooling cardinalfish | Black-nosed Cardinalfish | Luminous Cardinalfish | Nose-spot Cardinalfish | Swallowtail Cardinalfish | Rhabdamia cypselura
Rhabdamia cypselurus
Rhabdamia cypselurus, Northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Photo: Joe Shields
Rhabdamia cypselurus
Rhabdamia cypselurus, Great Barrier Reef, Townsville, Australia, Photo: Joe Shields
Rhabdamia cypselurus
Rhabdamia cypselurus, Great Barrier Reef, Townsville, Australia, Photo: Joe Shields
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Rhabdamia cypselurus
Rhabdamia cypselurus
Rhabdamia cypselurus

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Translucent body with orange tinge and yellowish snout, black stripe between eye and tip of snout and dark bands on upper and lower tail lobes. Forms extremely dense schools low down over reefs, often mixed in with R. gracilis (Slender Cardinalfish). Length to 6cm.


Information

Max Size: 6 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 16.2-30.7°C

Depth: 2-15m

Habitat Generalization Index: N/A

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.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Infrequent (1.9% 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: Large aggregations (4473 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields