Largetoothed cardinalfish

Cheilodipterus macrodon

Fish
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth2–24 m
Water temperature22–30 °C
Best monthsSeptember, October, and November
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Derek Keats, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Cheilodipterus macrodon, the large-toothed cardinalfish , or tiger cardinalfish is a species of marine fish in the family Apogonidae. It is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region, Red Sea included.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cheilodipterus macrodon”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 95 records
February: 80 records
March: 110 records
April: 132 records
May: 141 records
June: 109 records
July: 140 records
August: 118 records
September: 144 records
October: 166 records
November: 150 records
December: 85 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–24 m · Deepest record: 75 m

0–10 m: 276 records
10–20 m: 125 records
20–30 m: 61 records
30–40 m: 20 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 22–30 °C

20–22 °C: 5 records
22–24 °C: 9 records
24–26 °C: 46 records
26–28 °C: 139 records
28–30 °C: 192 records

Photos

(c) ajott, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Pierre Pericard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Largetoothed cardinalfish, Big-toothed Cardinal, Big-toothed Cardinal-fish, Big-toothed Percelle, bigtooth percelle, Eight-lined Cardinal-fish, Eight-lined Cardinalfish, Largetooth cardinalfish, largetoothed cardinalfish, Large-toothed Cardinalfish, Large toothed cardinalfish, Largetooth Cardinalfish, Tiger Cardinal, Tiger Cardinalfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Tiger-Kardinalbarsch
French: Apogon, Apogon à grandes dents
Japanese: Ryukyuyaraiishimochi, リュウキュウヤライイシモチ
Thai: ปลาอมไข่เขี้ยวใหญ่
Simplified Chinese: 大目側仔, 大面側仔, 巨牙天竺鯛, 巨牙天竺鲷, 巨齒天竺鯛

Other scientific names: Apogon macrodon, Apogon melanurus, Centropomus macrodon, Cheilodipterus heptazona, Cheilodipterus lineatus, Chelidopterus macrodon, Cheliodipterus macrodon, Paramia octolineata

Similar species

Fivelined cardinalfish
Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus
Dog-toothed Cardinalfish
Cheilodipterus isostigma
Obliquebanded cardinalfish
Apogon semiornatus
Dwarf Cardinalfish
Fowleria vaiulae
Bandtail Cardinal
Ostorhinchus aureus
Blue-lined Cardinalfish
Ostorhinchus cyanosoma

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,746 open-data records from 1802 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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