---
title: Five-lined Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus)
scientific_name: Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus
common_name: Five-lined Cardinalfish
taxon: Cardinals
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-28T22:46:41.888Z
updated: 2026-08-15T13:26:01.045Z
tags: Five-lined Cardinalfish, Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus, Cardinals, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/cardinals/five-lined-cardinalfish
---

# Five-lined Cardinalfish (*Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Cardinals (*Apogonidae*)
- **Size:** up to 13 cm
- **Depth:** 0-40 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral heads, ledges and urchins by day; open reef at night
- **Reproduction:** Mouthbrooder, Gonochoric
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- silver body with five dark stripes running the length of it
- yellow tail base with a black spot in the middle of it
- hovers in loose groups under coral heads by day
- length up to 13 cm

The cardinalfish a diver sees most: silver with five dark stripes and a black spot on a yellow tail base, hanging in the shade under a coral head with a dozen others, doing nothing at all until dark.

The male carries the eggs in his mouth. The female produces a clutch, he takes it in, and for the week or so until they hatch he holds it there - rolling and rotating the mass to keep it oxygenated, and eating nothing whatsoever. A brooding male is visible if you look: his jaw is distended and slightly open, and he refuses food a diver would expect any fish to take.

That is the whole family's arrangement, and it explains the rest of them. Few eggs, enormous parental investment, no larval free-for-all - a strategy for a small fish in a crowded place.

At night the group breaks up and the fish spread over the reef to hunt small crustaceans and fish in the dark. By morning they are back under the same coral head.

## Also known as

- **English:** fivelined cardinalfish, Five-lined Cardinalfish, Fiveband Cardinalfish
- **French:** Apogon à cinq lignes
- **Japanese:** ヤライイシモチ, Yaraiishimochi
- **Chinese:** 五带巨牙天竺鲷, 五帶巨牙天竺鯛, 五線巨齒天竺鯛
- **Russian:** Пятилинейный хилодиптер
- **TAH:** 'upaparu

## Scientific synonyms

- *Cheilodipterus popur* Montrouzier, 1857
- *Cheilodipterus quenquelineatus* Cuvier, 1828
- *Cheilodipterus quinquelineata* Cuvier, 1828
- *Cheliodipterus quinquelineatus* Cuvier, 1828
- *Ostorhinchus popur* (Montrouzier, 1857)
- *Paramia quinquelineata* (Cuvier, 1828)

## Range

Comoros, Eritrea, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/cardinals/five-lined-cardinalfish)*
*Updated: August 15, 2026*