Urchin Cardinalfish, Siphamia tubifer (Weber 1909)
Urchin Cardinalfish, Siphamia tubifer, near an urchin on the lagoon slope at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. Source: Jeanette Johnson / FishBase. License: CC BY Attribution-Noncommercial
An overall blackish cardinalfish or with an alternating pattern of silvery-white and narrower blackish stripes. This species shelters among long sea-urchin spines.
Urchin Cardinalfish, Siphamia tubifer (Weber 1909)
More Info
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Distribution |
Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia, and Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea, to east of Pottsville, New South Wales; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species is widespread in the Indo-west Pacific: the Red Sea to Mozambique and Madagascar east to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, north to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, the Philippines, and south to Australia. A nocturnal species, with small to large schools usually shelter among the spines of the Longspine Sea Urchin, Diadema setosum, or the Banded Sea Urchin, Echinothrix calamaris, during the day. |
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Feeding |
Feeds on zooplankton and small invertebrates. |
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Biology |
Like other cardinalfishes, the Urchin Cardinalfish is a paternal mouth brooder. The male parent orally broods his fertilized clutch of eggs, releasing pre-flexion larvae into the plankton. The species has an abdominal light organ that is connected to the intestine by a duct. The light organ, which contains symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria, develops in larvae after they are released into the plankton. The organ remains free of bacteria for at least 7 days following the larval release. The bacteria in the light organ emit light as an even glow over the ventral surface, enabling the Urchin Cardinalfish to forage at night. |
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Remarks |
This species was previously referred to as Siphamia versicolor in most references referring to Australia species prior to the revision of the genus Siphamia by Gon & Allen, 2012. |
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Etymology |
The specific name tubifer is from the Latin tubus (= tube) and fero (= to bear), in reference to the tube-like extension of the body cavity along the ventral side to the base of the tail (the light organ). |
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Species Citation |
Siphamia tubifer Weber 1909, Notes from the Leyden Museum 31(2): 168. Type locality: Northeastern point of Timor, Timor Island, southern Malay Archipelago, depth 27-55 m. |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2024 |
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Resources |
Urchin Cardinalfish, Siphamia tubifer (Weber 1909)
References
Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.
Allen, G.R., Myers, R.F., Santos, M., Mutia, M.T.M., Muyot, B., Arceo, H. & Nañola, C.L. 2022. Siphamia tubifer. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T193297A2217078. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T193297A2217078.en. Accessed on 01 July 2024.
Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21 (as Siphamia majimai)
Dunlap, P.V. & Nakamura, M. 2011. Functional morphology of the luminescence system of Siphamia versicolor (Perciformes: Apogonidae), a bacterially luminous coral reef fish. Journal of Morphology 272: 897–909. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10956 (as Siphamia versicolor)
Dunlap, P.V., Kojima, Y., Nakamura, S. & Nakamura, M. 2009. Inception of formation and early morphogenesis of the bacterial light organ of the sea urchin cardinalfish, Siphamia versicolor (Perciformes, Apogonidae). Marine Biology 156(10): 2011–2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1232-z (as Siphamia versicolor)
Dunlap, P.V., Gould, A.L., Wittenrich, M.L. & Nakamura, M. 2012. Symbiosis initiation in the bacterially luminous sea urchin cardinalfish Siphamia versicolor. Journal of Fish Biology 81: 1340–1356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03415. (as Siphamia versicolor)
Fraser, T.H., Gon, O. & Kraai, M. 2022. Family Apogonidae, Cardinalfishes. pp. 167-223, pls. 52-68 in Heemstra, P.C., Heemstra, E., Ebert, D.A., Holleman, W. & Randall, J.E. (eds). Coastal fishes of the western Indian Ocean. Volume 3. Makhanda, South Africa : South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity : i-ii, 1-469, i-xi, Pls. 1-158.
Gon, O. & Allen, G.R. 2012. Revision of the Indo-Pacific cardinalfish genus Siphamia (Perciformes: Apogonidae). Zootaxa 3294: 1-84.
Gould, A.L., Dougan, K.E., Koenigbauer, S.T. & Dunlap, P.V. 2016. Life history of the symbiotically luminous cardinalfish Siphamia tubifer (Perciformes: Apogonidae). Journal of Fish Biology 89(2): 1359-1377. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13063
Gould, A.L., Harii, S. & Dunlap, P.V. 2014. Host preference, site fidelity, and homing behavior of the symbiotically luminous cardinalfish, Siphamia tubifer (Perciformes: Apogonidae). Marine Biology 161: 2897–2907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2554-z
Gould, A.L., Harii, S. & Dunlap, P.V. 2015. Cues from the reef: olfactory preferences of a symbiotically luminous cardinalfish. Coral Reefs 34: 673–677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-015-1278-y
Kuiter, R.H. 1992. Tropical Reef-Fishes of the Western Pacific, Indonesia and Adjacent Waters. Jakarta : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama 314 pp. pls. (as Siphamia versicolor)
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 Siphamia versicolor)
Kuiter, R.H. & Kozawa, T. 2019. Cardinalfishes of the world. New edition. Seaford, Victoria : Aquatic Photographics, and Okazaki, Aichi, Japan : Anthias, Nexus, 1-198 pp.
Leis, J.M. & Bullock, S. 1986. The luminous cardinalfish Siphamia (Pisces, Apogonidae): development of larvae and the luminous organ. pp. 703–714 in Uyeno, T., Arai, R., Taniuchi, T., & Matsuura, K. (eds). Indo Pacific Fish Biology: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes, Ichthyological Society of Japan. (as Siphamia versicolor)
Pogonoski, J.J., Gon, O. & Appleyard, S.A. 2020 Redescription and distributional range extension of the Speckled Siphonfish, Siphamia guttulata (Pisces: Apogonidae). Zootaxa 4766(2): 377-388. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4766.2.6
Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs. (as Siphamia versicolor)
Smith, H.M. & Radcliffe, L. in Radcliffe, L. 1911. Notes on some fishes of the genus Amia, family of Cheilodipteridae, with descriptions of four new species from the Philippine Islands. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 41(1853): 245-261 figs 1-3 pls 20-25 (as Amia versicolor)
Tamura, R. 1982. Experimental observations on the association between the cardinalfish (Siphamia versicolor) and the sea urchin (Diadema setosum). Galaxea 1: 1–10.
Tominaga, Y. 1964. Notes on the fishes of the genus Siphamia (Apogonidae), with a record of S. versicolor from the Ryukyu Islands. Japanese journal of Ichthyology 12: 10–17.
Weber, M. 1909. Note IV. Diagnosen neuer Fische der Siboga-Expedition. Notes from the Leyden Museum 31(2): 143-169 See ref at BHL
