Orange-gold stripes on a blue-white body, in small groups under coral.
To about 8 cm, pale blue-white with five or six orange-gold horizontal stripes and a translucent tail, sometimes with a small dark spot at its base. Several small striped cardinalfishes share this ground; the combination of gold rather than black stripes and the absence of a dark caudal spot in most individuals places this one.
Groups of a few to a few dozen shelter under coral heads, in rubble and among long-spined urchins by day and disperse at night to take small crustaceans. Males brood the eggs in the mouth. It sits still in shade, which makes it a straightforward subject as long as the shade is the problem being solved rather than the fish. Recorded from about 2 to 50 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
