Three centimeters (1.2 in) of white fish barred in orange, with an eye ringed like a target and a first dorsal fin taller than the whole body, carried folded and snapped open in flashes. Finding one is a matter of lying still in front of a rubble patch until something the size of a match head moves.
The fin is a signal, not a sail. It goes up in disputes with neighbors and in courtship, doubling the fish's apparent size for a second at a time, and drops again immediately - which is why most photographs of the species show it folded and most people never know it is there.
It lives inside coral rubble rather than on it, using the interstitial spaces between broken pieces, and rarely ventures more than a few centimeters into the open. That habit, plus the size, is why a species found from this sea to Polynesia was not described until 1974.
The aquarium trade wants it, which for a fish this small and this cryptic means collection pressure that nobody can measure.
The genus. Discordipinna Hoese & Fourmanoir 1978 - discordis (genitive singular of discors) + pinna (fin). ETYFish
The species. Discordipinna griessingeri Hoese & Fourmanoir 1978 - Honours J. M.. ETYFish
- tiny white fish with narrow orange bars and orange fins
- enormous first dorsal fin, taller than the body, raised in flashes
- black and white eye ringed like a target
- length up to 3 cm
Why it's threatened
This species is dependent on live corals for suitable habitat. This species is collected for commercial use in the aquarium trade, and retails for high prices. It is frequently collected using ichthyocide (Randall 2005).
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
