Cardinal Fish

Photo: Erica Callegaro · © all rights reserved

Cardinal fish hover in small groups within the deeper overhangs and cave entrances along Filicudi's wall, their transparent red bodies almost glowing under torchlight in the shadowed recesses. These small nocturnal fish are mouthbrooders — males carry fertilised eggs in their mouths until hatching — and their cave-dwelling behaviour makes them emblematic of the cryptic life that thrives in Filicudi's less-visited walls. They emerge at night to feed on plankton in the water column, returning to their sheltered ledges before dawn.