Black Cardinalfish, Apogonichthyoides melas (Bleeker 1848)
A Black Cardinalfish, Apogonichthyoides melas, at South Komodo Island, Indonesia. Source: zsispeo / Flickr. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Summary:
A brown to blackish cardinalfish with tall rounded second dorsal and anal fins, broad rounded caudal-fin lobes, a black ocellus on the second dorsal-fin base, a narrow diagonal bar across the cheek, and often three or four indistinct broad dark bars on the body and caudal peduncle (noticeable at night). Juveniles lack the ocellus on the dorsal fin.
Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2020, Apogonichthyoides melas in Fishes of Australia, accessed 05 Oct 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1618
Black Cardinalfish, Apogonichthyoides melas (Bleeker 1848)
More Info
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Distribution |
Offshore reefs of north Western Australia, Ashmore & Cartier Islands in the Timor Sea, and the Northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs throughout the East Indian region to New Caledonia, and north to the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Inhabits protected coastal bays and reefs, often sheltering beneath jetties, amongst branching corals, or in crevices during the day. |
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Features |
Dorsal fin VII + I, 9; Anal fin II, 8; Pectoral fin 14-15; Lateral-line scales 24; Gill rakers (first arch) 5+15. |
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Remarks |
The Black Cardinalfish is provisionally placed in the genus Apogonichthyoides (Mabuchi et al. 2014). |
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Etymology |
The specific name is from the Latin melas (= black) in reference to the black colour of this species. |
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Species Citation |
Apogon melas Bleeker 1848, J. Indian Archipelago & Eastern Asia 2(9): 635. Type locality: Bima, Sumbawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2020 |
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Resources |
Black Cardinalfish, Apogonichthyoides melas (Bleeker 1848)
References
Allen, G.R., 1993. Cardinalfishes (Apogonidae) of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, with descriptions of three new species. Rev. Fr. Aquariol. 20(1): 9-20. (as Apogon melas)
Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls. (as Apogon melas)
Allen, G.R. 1999. Apogonidae. pp. 2602-2610 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds) The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 pp. 2069-2790. (as Apogon melas)
Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.
Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21
Bleeker, P. 1848. A contribution to the knowledge of the ichthyological fauna of Sumbawa. Journal of the Indian Archipelago & Eastern Asia 2(9): 632-639. See ref online
Fraser, T.H. & G.R. Allen. 2011. A new cardinalfish of the genus Apogonichthyoides (Perciformes, Apogonidae) from Raja Ampat Islands, with a key to species. Zootaxa 3095: 63-68.
Hobbs, J-P.A., Newman, S .J., Mitsopoulos, G.E.A., Travers, M.J., Skepper, C.L., Gilligan, J.J., Allen, G.R., Choat, H.J. & Ayling, A.M. 2014. Fishes of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands: new records, community composition and biogeographic significance. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 30: 203–219 https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/rbz/supplement-no-30/
Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. A comprehensive reference for divers and fishermen. Sydney, NSW, Australia : New Holland Publishers xvii, 434 pp. (as Apogon melas)
Kuiter, R.H. & Kozawa, T. 2019. Cardinalfishes of the world. New ed. Seaford, Victoria : Aquatic Photographics, and Okazaki, Aichi, Japan : Anthias, Nexus: 1-198.
Mabuchi, K., Fraser, T.H., Song, H., Azuma, Y. & Nishida, M. 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.
