Orbiculate cardinalfish
Sphaeramia orbicularis
- Usual depth0–4 m
- Water temperature26–30 °C
- Best monthsApril
- How commonOccasional
About this species
The orbiculate cardinalfish, chubby cardinal, or polka-dot cardinalfish is a species of Apogonidae (cardinalfishes). It grows to about 10 cm total length, and has a thin, dark vertical 'waistband' with scattered dark spots toward the tail. It is found in coastal areas throughout much of the Indo-Pacific, including off East Africa, Kiribati, the Ryukyu Islands, New Caledonia, Belau, and the eastern Caroline and Mariana Islands.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Sphaeramia orbicularis”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 6 records
- February: 5 records
- March: 5 records
- April: 71 records
- May: 19 records
- June: 12 records
- July: 16 records
- August: 11 records
- September: 19 records
- October: 5 records
- November: 8 records
- December: 7 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0–4 m · Deepest record: 287 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 26–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Orbiculate cardinalfish, Chubby Cardinal, Coral Cardinalfish, Orbicular Cardinalfish, orbiculate cardinalfish, Polka-dot Cardinalfish
Names in 4 more languages
- French
- Apogon orbiculaire
- Japanese
- Hososujimanjuishimochi, ホソスジマンジュウイシモチ
- Thai
- ปลาอมไข่จุด
- Simplified Chinese
- 大目側仔, 大面側仔, 環紋圓天竺鯛, 紅尾圓竺鯛
Other scientific names: Apogon orbicularis, Siphamia orbicularis
Similar species
- Coral Cardinalfish
Sphaeramia nematoptera
- Pearly-finned Cardinalfish
Jaydia poeciloptera
- Barred Striped Cardinalfish
Ostorhinchus fasciatus
Cryptic CardinalfishApogon erythrinus
Timor CardinalApogonichthyoides timorensis
Obliquebanded cardinalfishApogon semiornatus
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).
- 375 open-data records from 1828 to 2024.
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