NEWS 110
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Apogon maculatus
is one of the commonest fishes in the Caribbean. Because of its small egg numbers it
should also be readily breedable in the aquarium.
Lexicon
Apogon
means ”without barbels”.
amboinensis
means ”from (the island of)
Amboina”.
Apogonichthyoides
means ”similar to
Apogonichthys”(another fish genus).
barbatulus
means ”with a little beard”.
Cheilodipterus
means ”with a two-pronged fin”.
chrysopomus
means ”gold belly”.
cyanosoma
means ”with a blue body”.
Glossamia
means ”Amia with a tongue”;Amia
was formerly used as a genus name for
cardinalfishes.
hartzfeldii
: named in honor of the collector of
the type material of the species,Dr.J.Hartzfeld.
imberbis
means ”beardless”.
kauderni
: named in honor of Walter Kaudern
(1881-1942).
leptacantha
means "small-spined”.
maculatus
means ”spotted”.
margaritophorus
means ”pearl-bearing”.
Mullus
is the name used for the Mullet back in
antiquity.
nematoptera
means ”thread-fin”
notatus
means ”notable,marked”.
orbicularis
means ”circular”.
Ostorhinchus
means ”bony nose”.
parvulus
means ”very small”
pharaonis
means ”of the Pharaoh(s)”.
pseudotaeniatus
means ”false taeniatus”.
Pterapogon
means ”winged Apogon”.
quinquelineatus
means ”with five lines”.
sealei
: named in honor of Alvin Seale (1871-
1958).
Sphaeramia
means ”spherical Amia”.
Zoramia
:meaning unclear,literally ”Amia from
Zor”.
References:
Kuwamura
,T.(1983):Spawning behaviour and
timing of fertilization in themouthbrooding
cardinalfish Apogon notatus.Japanese Journal of
Ichthyology 30 (1):61-71
Mai
,W.(2004) in Brockmann,D.(Herausgeber):
Nachzuchten für das Korallenriff-Aquarium.
Bornheim.pp.171-179
Neira
,F.J.(1991):Larval developement of the oral
brooding cardinalfish Apogon rueppellii (Teleostei:
Apogonidae) inWestern Australia.Rec.Wesr.Aust.
Mus.15 (3):573-584
Oral
,M.(2010):Alien fish in theMediterranean -
Black Sea Basin.J.Black Sea/Mediterranean
Environment 16 (1):87-132
Petersen,C.W.,Mazzoldi,C.,Zarrella,K.A.&R.E.Hale
(2005):Fertilizationmode,sperm characteristics,
mate choice and parental care patterns in Artedius
sp..(Cottidae).Journal of Fish Biology 67:239-254
The majority of freshwater cardinalfishes live in
Australia and New Guinea.They belong to the genus
Glossamia
and aren't imported. One species of the
genus
Apogon
-
Apogon amboinensis
, pictured here -
is, however, very widespread in East Africa and
South-East Asia. The photo shows a specimen from
Thailand.
A. amboinensis
is actually a brackish-water
fish but is often found in completely fresh water.
Apogon amboinensis
is slightly reminiscent of the
glassfishes of the genus
Parambassis
popular in the
aquarium.But its mouthbrooding makes it a lot more
interesting behaviorally. As with the majority of
cardinalfishes, to the present day practically nothing
is known about the details of the life history of this
species. It is, however, assumed that
A. amboinensis
belongs to the species with relatively few, but large
eggs. In that case then between 200 and 300 fry per
brood can be expected from a breeding pair of this
species, which grows to around 7 cm long.
Cardinalfishes
Life expectancy
Natural life expectancy is usually linked to
size in cardinalfishes. The smallest species
live less than a year, the King of the Mullets
around five years. But fundamentally fishes
live a lot longer in the aquarium than in the
wild.The Banggai Cardinalfish has still been
breeding at the age of five years (Mai,2004).
All in all, cardinalfishes are ideal aquarium
fishes for marine aquarists and anyone who
aspires to become one.There is still much to
discover and study about them, and
aquarists have an important role to play in
this.That includes you!
