Apogon townsendi
Belted Cardinalfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Apogonidae (Cardinalfishes)
Apogon
Apogon townsendi (Belted Cardinalfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Dorsal profile of head is slightly convex, and snout is blunt. Jaws, vomer, and palatine have narrow bands of villiform teeth. Preopercular ridge is smooth, and posterior margin of preoperculum is strongly serrated and rounded at angle, with fleshy posteroventral process not extending beyond its serrated margin. Gill rakers on first arch number 16 to 18 on lower limb. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length about 38%, snout length about 7%, eye diameter about 15%, upper jaw length about 20%, caudal peduncle length about 23%, body depth about 36%. Pectoral fin has 12 rays, first dorsal fin has six slender spines, second dorsal fin has one spine and 9 rays, and anal fin has two spines and 8 rays. Caudal fin is forked. Scales are ctenoid and deciduous. Predorsal scales number 6, and scales encircling caudal peduncle number 12.
Color is pinkish red dorsally and yellowish red ventrally, with narrow dark bar at base of second dorsal fin extending to anal fin base and broad dark ring anterior to caudal fin. Narrow dark bar is separate from second dorsal fin. Anterior margin of broad dark ring is darker than posterior margin.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from southern Florida and Bermuda to northern South America, including the eastern and western Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
Habitat Associations
Coral reefs and rocky areas, often near drop-offs, in depths from 3 to 55 m.
Biology
Maximum known size is about 65 mm SL.
Inhabits coral and rocky areas, often near drop-offs. Solitary or in groups in caves or holes (Ref. 9710). Often seen hovering in the spines of long-spined urchin.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; bearers (external brooders). Mouthbrooders (Ref. 240). Distinct pairing during courtship and spawning (Ref. 205).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2010-03-10. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Böhlke and Randall 1968
Randall 1968a
Randall 1996
Bright and Cashman 1974
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Gon 2002a
Thresher, R.E. (1984) Reproduction in reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Neptune City, New Jersey. 399 p.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Dominici-Arosemena, A. and M. Wolff (2005) Reef fish community structure in Bocas del Toro (Caribbean, Panamá): Gradients in habitat complexity and exposure. Caribbean J. Sci. 41(3):613-637.
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