About Sphaeramia orbicularis (Cuvier, 1828)
The orbiculate cardinalfish, also commonly called chubby cardinal or polka-dot cardinalfish, has the scientific name Sphaeramia orbicularis (Cuvier, 1828) and belongs to the Apogonidae family of cardinalfishes. This species reaches a total length of around 10 cm. It has a thin, dark vertical 'waistband' marking, with scattered dark spots across the body toward its tail. It inhabits coastal regions across most of the Indo-Pacific, with documented occurrences off East Africa, near Kiribati, the Ryukyu Islands, New Caledonia, Belau, the eastern Caroline Islands, and the Mariana Islands. For this species, male individuals incubate the eggs until they hatch. The fish feeds primarily on planktonic crustaceans, and does most of its feeding during the night. It is not a common fish kept in marine aquariums.
