Cheilodipterus parazonatus

Gon, 1993

Mimic Cardinalfish

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Palau New Guinea, the Solomon’s, and Great Barrier Reef.

Size: 2 inches (6 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow lagoons, reef faces, and reef fore slopes, where its found under ledges and in crevices during the day. Usually found at depths between 6 – 185 feet (2 – 55 m) where it feeds on small fishes and crustaceans/zooplankton during evening hours.

General Husbandry: Has elongated pale tannish body with a central dark brown stripe edged in white from the snout lengthwise. As of 2016, not collected for the trade.

Taxonomy:

Order: Perciformes

Suborder: Percoidei

Family: Apogonidae

Subfamily: Apogoninae

Genus: Cheilodipterus

FYI: Shown here for identification only.

Mimics the Striped Fangblenny Meiacanthus grammistes.