Species: Astrapogon alutus, Bronze cardinalfish
Astrapogon alutus (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882)
Bronze cardinalfish
Body oblong, compressed; head large, snout short; rear nostril round; eye large; moderately large oblique mouth that opens at the front; top jaw wide, partly concealed when mouth is closed, scaleless; teeth small, usually present on center and sides of roof of mouth; preopercle edge smooth; dorsal fin VI +I, 9; anal fin II, 8; pectoral fin rays 14 (rarely 13 or 15); inner pelvic ray mostly not attached to body; pelvics not reaching beyond 3rd anal fin ray; tail fin bluntly straight to slightly convex; 23-45 pored lateral line scales; lateral line complete, extends onto base of tail fin; body scales smooth; no row of scales on nape centerline before dorsal fin.
Head and body silvery brown to dark brown, with dark pepperspots; pelvic dusky, often black tipped.
Reaches 6.5 cm.
Found in seagrass beds and tube sponges, but not in live conchs.
Depth range: 1-20 m.
Northern Gulf of Mexico to the S Caribbean.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Reef and soft bottom
- Submerged vegetation
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Egg Type
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- Brooded
- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Global Endemism
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- West Atlantic Endemic
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- All species.
- Regional Endemism
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- All species..
- Island (s)
- Continent
- GC endemic
- Continent + Island (s)
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 6.5
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 20
