Wolf Cardinalfish, Arrow-tooth Cardinafish, Lined Cardinalfish
Cheilodipterus artus, Adult, Northern Great Barrier Reef, Photo: Joe Shields
Cheilodipterus artus, Juvenile. Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
Cheilodipterus artus, Juvenile, Naigani Is, Fiji, Photo: Andrew Green
Cheilodipterus artus, Intermediate, Coral Sea, Qld, Photo: Andrew Green
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Pale body colour with 8 or 9 dark stripes, juveniles only possesing 4 or 5, with the additional stripes forming between already established ones giving the intermediate phases a distinctive dark-faint stripe pattern. Yellow tail base with black spot becoming darker with age. Almost impossible to distinguish from C. intermedius in the field at small sizes, but C. intermedius retains light tail base in larger individuals.
Information
Max Size: 19 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 22.3-31.7°C
Depth: 2-20m
Habitat: Coral Reef, Rocky Reef
Rarity
IUCN Threat Status: Not Evaluated
Occurrence: Infrequent (9% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution.
It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Many (14 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: RD Stuart-Smith, GJ Edgar, AJ Green, IV Shaw. 2015. Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland