Banggai cardinalfish

Description:

The Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) is a small tropical cardinalfish (family Apogonidae). It is the sole member of the genus Pterapogon, with the exception of Pterapogon mirifica. This attractive fish is popular in the aquarium trade. It is among the relatively few marine fish to have been bred regularly in captivity, but significant numbers are still captured in the wild and it is now an endangered species.

Habitat:

This species is restricted to the Banggai Islands of Indonesia. This species has an extremely limited geographic range (5,500 km²) and small total population size (estimated at 2.4 million). The Banggai cardinalfish is composed of isolated populations concentrated around the shallows of 17 large and 10 small islands within the Banggai Archipelago. A small population also occurs off Central Sulawesi, within Luwuk harbor. One additional population has become established in the Lembeh Strait (North Sulawesi), 400 km north of the natural area of the species distribution, following introduction by aquarium fish traders in 2000.

Notes:

Pictures are taken at AquaZoo Düsseldorf, Germany