Common Name: Cook’s Cardinalfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific region: Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman south to Natal and east to the western Pacific, north to Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia. Recently reported from Tonga. In Australia recorded from Shark Bay in Western Australia, across the tropical north including the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to central New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents ledges of rocky and coral areas of coastal and inner reefs. Depth from 1 – 10 m.

Additional Notes: Pale body with six broad dark stripes, centre stripe ending in distinct white edged black spot on the caudal peduncle, short stripe from upper eye extends to about half body length. Similar species O. taeniophorus has no spot at caudal peduncle and shorter stripe from upper eye, while O. angustatus has the black spot on the caudal peduncle but no short stripe from the top of the eye. Nocturnal species that is secretive during the day. Feeds on zooplankton, benthic invertebrates and small fish. Grows to 10 cm.

References: John E. Randall, Gerald R. Allen, Roger C. Steene, Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, 2nd Edition, 1997. Published by Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd. p.140.

R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.126.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Ostorhinchus+cookii. Accessed 20/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Ostorhinchus-cookii.html. Accessed 20/06/18.