Ring-Tailed Cardinalfish (Ostorhinchus aureus, O. fleurieu) of the Eastern Hemisphere

The name ring-tailed cardinalfish applies to two different -- but similar-looking -- fish. The flower cardinalfish carries the scientific name Ostorhinchus fleurieu and the common names bullseye, gold, ring-tail, and ring-tailed cardinalfish. The golden cardinalfish has the scientific name Ostorhinchus aureus and the common names band-tail, golden, ring-tail, and ring-tailed cardinalfish. Both species occupy their respective places within the scientific taxonomic system of binomial, Greek/Latin nomenclature thanks to the industriousness of Agen-born French naturalist Bernard Germain Étienne de la Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède (December 26, 1756 – October 6, 1825) in 1802 regarding tropical fishes. They owe overlapping common designations to the non-scientific taxonomic system of trivial, vernacular names whose expression recognizes distinct colors and memorable patterns.

Flower and golden ring-tails appear bronze-, copper-, or orange-colored above, gold-colored below, and pale-colored behind. A broad stripe blackens the left and right profile views from the tip of the cardinalfish’s snout to the eye and diffuses beyond the left and right orbits. Iridescent, narrow blue streaks embellish each maxilla (upper jaw) in profile. A broad black bar encircles the caudal peduncle (tail base). It explains the designation of the two species as ring-tails. It is present as an hourglass with defined edges throughout the juvenile and mature stages of the golden ring-tail. It succeeds a black “bull’s-eye” spot of the juvenile stage in the flower ring-tail. It transforms into the mature flower ring-tail’s diffusely-edged, straight-lined band.

The ring-tailed cardinalfish belongs to the Apogonidae family of perch-like, ray-finned fishes of the Atlantic, Indian, Mediterranean, and Pacific Oceans. Ring-tails have big-eyed, large-headed elongated bodies with:

• Gill rakers (19 – 23 fleurieu, 22 – 27 aureus);
• Posterior and ventral (lower) margins serrate (tooth-like);
• Preopercular ridge smooth before the gill cover;
• Rays (anal fin II[8], anal soft 8, dorsal fin VII-I[9], dorsal soft 9, pectoral fin 14, pelvic fin I[5]);
• Scales (circumpeduncular 12, median predorsal 5, predorsal 5, pored lateral line 25);
• Spines (anal 2, dorsal 8);
• Vertebrae (24).

They mature to total lengths of 3.9 – 5.9 inches (10 – 15 centimeters). Lower ranges reflect the typical size of the adult female whereas upper ranges represent that of adult males.

A large, oblique mouth constitutes one of the most noticeable features of the flower and the golden ring-tailed cardinalfishes. It functions as a food-trapper for both females and males. In the wild and after a 30-minute “quiet time” following sunset, ring-tails make daily forays for:

• Benthic crustaceans;
• Mobile invertebrates;
• Small fish;
• Zooplankton.

In captivity, they may be trained to consume:

• Fresh and frozen meaty foods;
• Small fish;
• Small shrimp.

They must avoid:

• Dry processed foods;
• Flakes;
• Pellets.

They survive 2 – 3 years in 30+-U.S. gallon (113.6+-liter) aquaria which:

• Include dark niches;
• Lack large predators;
• Standardize hardness (8 - 12°d), pH (8.2 - 8.5), sg (1.020 - 1.025), stocking (1 male for every 2 females), and temperatures (72 - 78°F [22.2 - 25.6°C]).

The super-mouths of Apogonidae family members additionally act to ensure future generations. They definitely assume that role in the life cycle of the sexually mature flower and golden ring-tailed cardinalfish … males! Flower and golden cardinalfish females continue in their roles as egg-makers. They deposit egg masses near the fathers-to-be. The males fertilize the eggs. The 0.1-inch (0.25-centimeter), large-yolked eggs get vacuumed into the paternal mouth. They hatch several weeks later. The male is so committed to guarding and hatching his brood that foraging ceases. He makes up for his self-imposed fasting by bulking up before and after year-round brood-ability, which nevertheless peaks in summer. Ring-tails tend to avoid egg mortality and -- every 15 months -- double populations.

The ring-tailed young become members of dark worlds. Darkness determines the ring-tails’ spatial and temporal life cycles. During the day, flower and golden ring-tails dwell in darkened, inaccessible, predator-proof spaces:

• Among branching coral;
• In rocky crevices;
• Under shallow ledges.

With nightfall, they emerge to forage and foray in schools whose adult members couple up for:

• Cavorting;
• Courting;
• Sheltering;
• Spawning.

Their schools form super-aggregations with short-tooth cardinalfishes (Ostorhinchus apogonoides) every summer and autumn. Ring-tailed schools go back to same-species exclusiveness every winter and spring. But whether they are in aggregation- or school-mode, flower and golden ring-tails limit themselves to navigating moderate currents at respective depths of:

• 3.3 – 98.4 feet (1 – 30 meters);
• 3.3 – 131.2 feet (1 – 40 meters).

In the Eastern marine “wild” of latitudes 30°N - 30°S, both ring-tails circle:

• Bays, estuaries, lagoons;
• Coral and ocean reefs;
• Indian and Pacific seashores (Australia, East Africa, Hong Kong);
• Islands (Indonesia, Philippines, Seychelles, Sri Lanka).

Flower ring-tails circle:

• Andaman and Red Seas;
• Fiji;
• India;
• Malaysia;
• Oman and Persian Gulfs.

Golden ring-tails circle:

• Christmas Island;
• Comoros, Madagascar, and Mauritius;
• Japan;
• New Caledonia, Papua/New Guinea, Reunion, Tonga, and Vanuatu;
• Taiwan.

Scientists consider flower cardinalfish more numerous than golden ring-tails. Private and public aquaria owners generally decide in favor of the “friendlier” golden cardinalfish. But non-scientists and scientists jointly deem both ring-tails:

• Harmless water quality indicators in captive- and wild-scapes;
• Hearty adapters to aquarium-scapes;
• Robust survivors of precarious, protected marine-scapes.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Blizzard Ridge, Exmouth, North West Cape, Western Australia state, northwestern Australia: jon hanson from london, UK, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apogon_aureus.jpg

Bernard Germain de Lacépède, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (1801), tome III, Plate 32, opposite page 523: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/histoirenaturell06lac/page/n679/mode/1up; via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12702923

marina, Wakaya Island, Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago, Koro Sea: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble (Paul and Jill), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/39136124@N00/7621916616/

"Taken by Craig (Our DM [Dive Master] for our dive at Ningaloo.": NeilsPhotography, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/21976354@N07/2348954227/

Pulau Aur, Seribuat Archipelago, off southeast coast of West Malaysia: Anders Poulsen, Deep Blue (http://www.colours.dk/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apogon_fleurieu1.jpg

Red Sea forks at Sinai Peninsula west (left) into Gulf of Suez and east (right) into Gulf of Aqaba; Nov. 3, 2007, image by International Space Station Expdition 16: NASA Johnson Space Center, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gulf_of_Suez_from_orbit_2007.JPG; via Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth @ https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS016&roll=E&frame=8810

Christmas Island, Australian territory in eastern Indian Ocean: DIAC images, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christmas_Island_Immigration_Detention_Centre_(5424320766).jpg

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• Available at: http://fishbase.org/summary/4839

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de Lacépède, Bernard Germain. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons. Tome III. Paris: l'Imprimerie de Plassan, [1801].

• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/histoirenaturell06lac

de Lacépède, Bernard Germain. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons. Tome IV. Paris: l'Imprimerie de Plassan, l'An X de la République [1802].

• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12702291
• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/histoirenaturell04lacs

Fricke, R.; and Gon, O. 2010. “Apogon fleurieu.” In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Version 2013.2. Retrieved on February 17, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/154912/0

Gon, Ofer. "Redescription of Apogon (Ostorhinchus) fleurieu (Lacépède, 1802) with Notes on its Synonymy." Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1987-1988): 138-145.

• Available via J-Stage at: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jji1950/34/2/34_2_138/_article
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Randall, John E.; Fraser, Thomas H.; and Lachner, Ernest A. 1990. "On the Validity of the Indo-Pacific Cardinalfishes Apogon aureus (Lacepède) and A. fleurieu (Lacepède), with Description of a Related New Species from the Red Sea." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Vol. 103, No. 1: 39-62. Retrieved on February 17, 2014.

• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofb1031990biol

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• Available at: http://reefguide.org/ringtailedcardinalfish.html

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• Available at: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/marinefish/ringtailedcardinalfish.php

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• Available at: http://oceana.org/en/explore/marine-wildlife/ring-tailed-cardinalfish