Fish of the Apogon genus of the subfamily Apogoninae of the Apogonidae (cardinalfishes) family of the superfamily Percoidea of the Perciformes order of the Acanthopterygii superorder.
(Cardinal fish. Photo by © Sasha Lobenstein. enelmar.es)
Cardinal fish or Mediterranean cardinalfish (Apogon imberbis) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It inhabits the depth of 10-200 meters. The maximum recorded length is 15 cm. It prefers to swim close to the muddy and rocky bottom. It hides in underwater caves and other shelters during the day. It has nocturnal habits. These fish get together in small schools. It feeds on invertebrates and small fish.
(Cardinal fish. Photo by © Carmelo Isgrò. flickr.com/photos/128598225@N02)
It is a permanent inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea.
Names of Cardinal fish (Apogon imberbis) in other languages as follows:
Peshku kardinal (Albanian), Καρδινάλιος (Kardinalios) (Greek), Salmonete real (Spanish), Re di triglie (Italian), Meerbarbenkönig (German), Apogon (Polish), Alcarraz (Portuguese), Средиземноморский апогон (Sredizemnomorskiy apogon) (Russian), Matulič, Matuličić (Serbian, Croatian), Kardinal balığı (Turkish), Coq (French).