The elegant firefish or purple firefish, Nemateleotris decora, is a dartfish

Dartfish

Dartfishes are a family, Ptereleotridae, of goby-like fishes in the order Perciformes. They are saltwater fish.The dartfishes were formerly classified as the subfamily Ptereleotrinae of the wormfishes, Microdesmidae, but this classification made Microdesmidae polyphyletic, hence the elevation to a...

 of the genus Nemateleotris.

This species is found in the Indo-West Pacific

Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...

, from Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 to Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

, north to Ryukyu Islands

Ryukyu Islands

The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...

, and south to New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, from 25–70 metres ( ft) in depth. It is found over hard, open bottoms of reefs and sandy patches, as well as deeper coastal outer reef drop-offs. It reaches a maximum length of 9 centimetres (3 in). This species is often found in pairs and is monogamous. These fish feed on zooplankton

Zooplankton

Zooplankton are heterotrophic plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word "zooplankton" is derived from the Greek zoon , meaning "animal", and , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"...

, especially copepod

Copepod

Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...

s and crustacean larvae

Crustacean larvae

Crustaceans may pass through a number of larval and immature stages between hatching from their eggs and reaching their adult form. Each of the stages is separated by a moult, in which the hard exoskeleton is shed to allow the animal to grow...

. They will dart into holes when alarmed.

In the aquarium

This fish is popular in reef aquarium

Reef aquarium

A reef aquarium or reef tank is an marine aquarium that prominently displays live corals and other marine invertebrates as well as fish that play a role in maintaining the coral reef environment...

s and is resistant to disease. These fish are relatively docile and will not attack tankmates where kept in a suitably sized aquarium; however, if kept in confined quarters these fish may squabble over territory. Firefish are commonly kept in nano reef aquariums.

Firefish are prolific leapers. Thus, an aquarist contemplating the acquisition of either of these species should be certain that the aquarium hood will not easily allow the firefish to leap from the tank and expire. These fish should also be provided with rockwork to hide in.

This and other species of firefish are occasionally spawned in captivity.