---
title: Yellow-striped Cardinalfish (Ostorhinchus cyanosoma)
scientific_name: Ostorhinchus cyanosoma
common_name: Yellow-striped Cardinalfish
taxon: Cardinals
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-28T23:05:46.497Z
updated: 2026-08-18T17:50:43.524Z
tags: Yellow-striped Cardinalfish, Ostorhinchus cyanosoma, Cardinals, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/cardinals/yellow-striped-cardinalfish
---

# Yellow-striped Cardinalfish (*Ostorhinchus cyanosoma*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Cardinals (*Apogonidae*)
- **Size:** 8 cm
- **Depth:** 50 m
- **Diet:** Planktivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral heads and ledges on sheltered reef
- **Reproduction:** Mouthbrooder
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- translucent silvery body with four to six bright yellow stripes
- large eye, dark bar through it
- hangs in small stationary groups under ledges and in coral by day
- up to 8 cm

A reef runs two shifts, and cardinalfish are the night crew.

At dusk the changeover happens in a few minutes and it is worth staying in the water to watch. The damselfish, wrasse and butterflyfish that spent the day in open water drop into the coral and wedge themselves into exactly the holes the cardinalfish have been sitting in all afternoon. The cardinalfish come out as they go in. The same square meter of reef is occupied around the clock by two different sets of animals that barely ever meet, using the same shelter in alternation.

So a snorkeler who only swims in daylight sees a handful of cardinalfish hanging quietly under a ledge and concludes they are a minor part of the fauna. Get in at dusk and the water above the coral fills with them.

This one is among the prettiest: translucent with bright yellow stripes down a silvery body and a dark bar through a very large eye. It hangs in small groups by day, spreads out over the reef at night for zooplankton, and, like the rest of the family, the male carries the eggs in his mouth.

## Also known as

- **English:** Yellow-striped Cardinalfish, Blue-lined Cardinalfish, Blue-striped Cardinalfish
- **Hebrew:** אפוגון זהוב
- **French:** Apogon à rayures jaunes
- **Italian:** Pesce cardinale lineato giallo
- **German:** Gelbstreifen-Kardinalbarsch, Goldstreifen-Kardinalbarsch
- **Portuguese:** Cardeal-de-linhas-amarelas
- **Czech:** parmovec žlutopruhý
- **Japanese:** アカホシキンセンイシモチ
- **Chinese:** 金帶鸚天竺鯛, 金線鸚天竺鯛
- **Russian:** Синетелый кардинал

## Scientific synonyms

- *Apogon cyanosoma* Bleeker, 1853
- *Apogon cyanosomus* Bleeker, 1853
- *Ostorhynchus cyanosoma* (Bleeker, 1853)

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/cardinals/yellow-striped-cardinalfish)*
*Updated: August 18, 2026*