Barspot Cardinalfish

Sightings

2026 season, numbered oldest first, every one sourced

Photos

More of each life stage

The California photos sit with their numbered sightings above. If you photographed this animal in California this season, post it to the Coastal Bulletin.

Home Range

Where it normally lives

La Jolla and central Baja California to Colombia, including the Gulf of California.

Range source: Love et al. 2021, via Zenodo · FishBase · Mexican Fish.com

Love and colleagues list the barspot cardinalfish from La Jolla, citing a 2020 report, then from Islas San Benito, Isla de Cedros and Isla Natividad off central Baja California and from Rocas Chester on the Baja mainland, south to Colombia, including the Gulf of California. FishBase gives a shorter range, from the Gulf of California to southern Mexico.

Identification

The barspot cardinalfish is a small, flat-sided, reddish pink fish with a large head, a short pointed snout and large eyes. It has 3 strong marks: a black spot at the middle of the tail base, a black bar below the 2nd dorsal fin, and a large black mark with white lines that runs from the snout through the eye to the end of the gill cover. The pink cardinalfish also has a black bar through the eye and a short bar under the 2nd dorsal fin, but Mexican Fish mentions no spot at its tail base.

The sources read for this page do not describe juveniles. The juvenile photographed at La Jolla Shores is purple-pink with dark speckled stripes along its head and body, a dark speckled bar under the 2nd dorsal fin, a dark spot at the tail base and black-edged fins.

Natural History

Barspot cardinalfish live on rocky reefs from the intertidal zone to about 200 feet. They shelter during the day, then come out at night and form small schools to hunt small fish and small invertebrates, including crabs and shrimp. Males hold the fertilized eggs in their mouths for several days, then release hundreds of larvae that drift for several weeks before becoming juveniles. Mexican Fish calls the species poorly studied.

In California

On October 31, 2026, Matt Wilbur photographed a juvenile at La Jolla Shores, 1 of a pair by his account. He took it for a fancy looking barspot, and Nautical Nick identified it as a juvenile barspot cardinalfish. Love and colleagues cite an earlier La Jolla record from a 2020 report. iNaturalist held no California records of the species on October 31, 2026.

Taxonomy

Rarity

Rarity in the compendium is Nautical Nick's call on how likely a diver is to run into the animal on the California coast this season, not how rare it is where it normally lives.