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Siphamia corallicola
Siphamia is a genus of cardinalfishes native to the Indian and Pacific oceans. Several of these species are commensal with various species of sea urchins. Cardinal fishes are from the family Apogonidae, of ray-finned fishes. Small in sizes, usually around 8-10 cm. Cardinal Fishes are a unique fish as it is the Males that carry and brood the Eggs. Usually, the Female will release her egg mass near the chosen Male and after the Male fertilizes the eggs, he will take them into his mouth to carry them during the incubation period, until the fry are ready to hatch. As he incubates the eggs the male Cardinal Fish will open its mouth to rotate the egg mass from time to time, to keep them clean and aerated. At times it will partially expel the eggs before sucking them back in. It is estimated that up to 30 per cent of the eggs are accidentally eaten. During this incubation period, the Male are unable to hunt/feed.
Found in the Indian, and Pacific Oceans; they are chiefly marine, but some species are found in brackish water and a few are found in fresh water. Some species swims among Black Sea Urchin to use as protection.
In this picture, the Father Cardinalfish has a mouthful of fry which are quite well developed, their eyes can easily be seen. Additional info links : http://www.fishbase.se/summary/25077 http://www.anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/gal...
Spotted on Dec 24, 2014
Submitted on Jan 15, 2015
31 Comments (1–25)
Thanks, @Ashley for the nomination :)
Am honoured!
Last one! Congrats Albert, your awesome Coral Cardinal Fish has made the top 10 fish spottings in the '2015 Best Wildlife Photo' mission! Rangers are voting on the top 10 fish spottings, and the top 3 will be announced on February 5th. The top 3 spottings will be commented on here on the site, but make sure you keep a look out on our Facebook app page for the announcement as well! Congratulations on making the top 10! https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah
Thanks, @Desmond and @rams4d :)
@Antonio, I have updated the Mission, thanks :)
Congrats! You deserved the SOTD!
Congrats !!!
Albert, please consider adding this spotting to the 2015 Best Wildlife photo mission: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1184...
Thanks, @Bhagya :)
Awesome spotting AlbertKang .... Congrats.....
Thanks, @James McNair, @Dilan, @EnvUnlimited, @AdrianaRamos and @Antonio for your kind comments and support :)
Awesome spotting Albert,another super well deserved SOTW,great info,these guys have a amazing behaviour,congrats and thanks for sharing
Very nice, thank you for share!!
Kisses
Cool shot!!congratulations AlbertKang!!!
Congrats Albert!
Thanks, @Joshua :)
Very cool!!!
Thanks, @Nuwan, @Daniele, @Ashley and @Marta.
It is you guys who selected it, so I have to thank you all, very very much.
Am honored :)
Vry well deserved! :-)
Congrats Albert!
Congrats Albert! Awesome catch on the behaviour.
Congratulations, Albert!
Thanks, @Yasser for selecting this as Spotting of the Week, am honoured! :)
Thanks too, @Stefania and @Leuba.
Am sure it is uncomfortable, Leuba but its their way to ensure higher chances of survivals of their next generation. Those Eggs that are released to Water columns or deposited on coral rubbles/rocks have lower survival rate as they are preyed upon by other fishes or marine life.
Looks uncomfortable- doesn't it ? Makes a great spotting and a great photo ( as always). Congratulations !
congratulations! what a fantastic spotting. thank you for the interesting info as well. Well deserved Spotting of the Week!
Albert, congratulations! This awesomely fascinating photo has been selected by our Rangers as the Spotting of the Week! We can't thank you enough for all the incredible photo's you've shared and we can't wait to see what you share next. Congrats again!
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Thanks, @Fyn Kynd for this nomination.