Sphaeramia

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Sphaeramia
Sphaeramia nematopterus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Suborder: Percoidei Superfamily: Percoidea Family: Apogonidae Genus: Sphaeramia Fowler & Bean, 1930
Species
Sphaeramia nematopterus Sphaeramia orbicularis

Sphaeramia is a genus of Cardinalfish of the family Apogonidae. They are marine fish that live in shallow tropical reefs. There are two species:

• Pajama cardinalfish, Sphaeramia nematopterus (Bleeker, 1856).
• Orbiculate cardinalfish, Sphaeramia orbicularis (Cuvier, 1828).

They have a dark spotted 'waistband' with scattered spots toward the tail. The Pajama cardinalfish has distinctive red eyes. In both species, males incubate the eggs in their mouth until they hatch. The Pajama cardinalfish is distributed throughout the West Pacific, from Java to Fiji, the Ryukyu Islands, and south to the Great Barrier Reef. The Orbiculate cardinalfish is found throughout the Indo-Pacific, from East Africa to Kiribati, Ryukyu Islands, New Calidonia, Palau and Mariana Islands. The Pajama cardinalfish is a popular aquarium fish.

[edit] External links

• Sphaeramia nematopterus at Fishbase [1]
• Sphaeramia orbicularis at Fishbase [2]