Banggai Cardinalfish

These days our Guide Aso is taking the Krueger familiy from the Netherlands diving. Today they decided, that they would like to see Banggai Cardinalfish. So we went with their boat to Police Pier 2 and planned the dive to have more time in the shallows just under the pearl farm jetty … there is a big Anemone with hundrets of Banggai Cardinalfishes. We spend a good 25 minutes just watching these beautiful fish gathering around their Anemone. There were even several ones with Eggs and also some with hatched babies intheir mouth. The Banggai Cardinalfish incubates the eggs in the mouth for 20 days and then keeps the hatched babies for another 10 days.

Creature Feature: Banggai Cardinalfish

Even though the Banggai Cardinalfish (pterapogon kauderni) is one of Lembeh’s Signature Critters it’s population here is not natural. As the name says, the Banggai Cardinalfish is actually endemic to the Banggai Archipelago. The population in Lembeh Strait is the result of escaped Fishes, that were meant for Aquarium Trade. Since then the population of this Species is growing in Lembeh.

Mouthbreeding Cardinalfish – eggs not hatched yet.

The Banggai Cardinalfish usually stay shallow and inhabit the surrounding of anemones or sea urchins. Like all Cardinalfish they are mouthbreeders: The female releases the eggs, that the male then fertilizes. He then takes the fertilized eggmass in its mouth and breeds the eggs (2-3mm in size) for 20 days. Then the little Banggai Cardinalfish hatch – but they remain in the mouth of the male for another 10 days. After that, the yolk is consumed and the little fish leave their fathers mouth. They don’t go through a pelagic state and settle immediately in the population. The male does not feed for the whole 30 days.

Best place to see Banggai cardinalfish in Lembeh Strait: Basicly almost every Dive Site – you don’t even need a guide. Anyone can find them and it is a very common fish here. But nowhere else 😉

Best lens to use: Banggai Cardinalfish can be shot with all lenses: Supercloseup with a long Macro of the Eggs in the Mouth, Portrait with a 100mm or a 60mm – even Wideangle shots of a population with an anemone are possible.