With 347 valid species (Eschmeyer & Fong 2013), Apogonidae (
cardinalfishes) is the seventh most speciose family among Perciformes.
Site fidelity and homing behaviour in coral reef
cardinalfishes. Journal of Fish Biology 57:1590-1600.
Cardinalfishes (Apogonidae) of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, with descriptions of three new species.
Female size is typically used to predict clutch size in fishes (Bagenal, 1978), including syngnathids (Teixeira and Musick, 2001; Vincent and Giles, 2003), but male dimensions can be also be used to predict brood size in fishes that provide paternal care, such as syngnathids (Strawn, 1958; Teixeira and Musick, 2001) and mouthbrooding
cardinalfishes (Okuda et al., 1998; Kolm, 2002).
Deepwater
cardinalfishes of the genus Epigonus Rafinesque, 1810 occur in almost all oceans, from subantarctic and northern cold-temperate to tropical latitudes.
Overall, twelve families were restricted to seagrass habitats: phycid hakes (Phycidae), toadfishes (Batrachiodidae), batfishes (Ogcocephalidae), flyingfishes (Exocoetidae),
cardinalfishes (Apogonidae), barracudas (Sphyraenidae), wrasses (Labridae), combtooth blennies (Blenniidae), mackerels (Scombridae), triggerfishes (Balistidae), boxfishes (Ostraciidae), and porcupinefishes (Diodontidae; Table 1).
