Swallowtail cardinalfish
Verulux cypselurus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Swallowtail cardinalfish
- Scientific
- Verulux cypselurus
- Dhivehi
- ހިމަ ބޯދިHima boadhi
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 6 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 2 to 15 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2021
Description
A small, slender, semi-transparent cardinalfish with a yellowish sheen on the head and belly, an interrupted black stripe from the snout and dark bands near the tail tips. It forms large shoals above lagoon patch reefs, often with the luminous cardinalfish, and spreads out at night to pick plankton from mid-water.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi name hima boadhi (MRS 1997, as Rhabdamia cypselura, 'headstripe cardinalfish').
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Verulux-cypselurus.html
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/ހިމަ_ބޯދި
Dhivehi name source: Thaana from the Dhivehi Wikipedia article 'ހިމަ ބޯދި' (derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition). No published Latin-script form found; 'Hima boadhi' is Pax's transliteration of the Thaana (Malé Latin conventions). FishBase also lists 'Himabodi' under India (Minicoy/Lakshadweep Mahl dialect); not used. FLAG: Latin form is a transliteration, not a published spelling.