''Ostorhinchus fasciatus'', commonly known as the broad-banded cardinalfish, is a marine fish native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans which is a

Lessepsian migrant The Lessepsian migration (also called Erythrean invasion) is the migration of marine species across the Suez Canal, usually from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and more rarely in the opposite direction. When the canal was completed in 18 ...

to the eastern Mediterranean through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

from the Red Sea, it was first recorded off

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 2008 and has now reached the southern coast of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It has a number of vernacular names including barred striped cardinalfish, four-banded soldier-fish, striped cardinalfish and twostripe cardinalfish.

Description

''Ostorhinchus fasciatus'' is an ovoid shaped fish with large eyes, a blunt snout, a large, oblique mouth which reaches the eye and a forked

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. The body shows slight ventral compression. In colour it is a generally white to pinkish grey in colour with two dark stripes on the dorsal half of body: one is a broad, plain stripe either side of the lateral line from the tip of the snout to the central rays of the caudal fin; the second is a narrower stripe starting above eye and reaching to the upper part of the caudal peduncle. It frequently has an incomplete dusky stripe which lies between the two main stripes. Its colour fades to silvery white on the posterior portion of the belly. It has two

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

s, the first of which has a tiny spine at the front with the second and third spines being much longer. The

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

lies directly below the posterior dorsal fin. The colour of the fins is pinkish-orange and larger fish have a line of brown spots on the membranes of second dorsal fin and the anal fin. It grows to a maximum total length of 10.3 cm but is normally 7 cm, standard lengthAtlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea (''Ostorhinchus fasciatus''). 2nd Edition. 2021. 366p. CIESM Publishers, Paris, Monaco.https://ciesm.org/atlas/fishes_2nd_edition/Ostorhinchus_fasciatus.pdf

Distribution

''Ostorhinchus fasciatus'' has a natural distribution which is Indo-West Pacific from the Red Sea and

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

south to Mozambique in the west, eastwards through the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific where it occurs as far north as Japan and as far south as

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Also present in the eastern Basin of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

since its first appearance off Israel in 2009, it is now very common from Egypt to Turkey.

Biology

''Ostorhinchus fasciatus'' is a nocturnal species which spends the day among rocks and corals and emerges into more open areas at night to feed on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

. It is a paternal mouthbrooder: the male incubates the eggs in his mouth. In Australia it is known to be preyed upon by the greater crested tern,

little pied cormorant The little pied cormorant, little shag or kawaupaka (''Microcarbo melanoleucos'') is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapo ...

and

Australian pied cormorant The Australian pied cormorant (''Phalacrocorax varius''), also known as the pied cormorant, pied shag, or great pied cormorant, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand, it i ...

. It is known to be a host of the

endoparasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

trematode Trematoda is a class of flatworms known as flukes. They are obligate internal parasites with a complex life cycle requiring at least two hosts. The intermediate host, in which asexual reproduction occurs, is usually a snail. The definitive host ...

worms '' Macvicaria shotteri'' and '' Opegaster queenslandicus''.

Naming

''Ostorhinchus fasciatus'' was originally described as ''Mullus fasciatus'' by the Surgeon-General of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

John White in 1790 in his book ''Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales''. The type locality was

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13971444 Fish of Thailand Fish described in 1790 Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of the Indian Ocean fasciatus