Looking for gobies pictures

[Tony Gill]

The Elacatinus in the link you gave sure looks a lot like the one on the first page of the thread, but it is not E. genie. In E. genie, the pale (yellow) stripe on the snout is continuous with the body stripe. In the fish in the link and the one in the thread, the yellow marking on the snout is disconnected. Although the other snout markings appear to be too dark, the photo might be E. randalli. In any case, check out the photos of Elacatinus species in Gobioidei -- Genera of the Americas A couple of species are not illustrated on that site, but you can google search the species names to see what they look like.

Tony

 

[austinsdad]

Sorry I can't help you with my own fish

 

[m3drver]

Hers's a pic of my Tiger watchman Goby

 

[madcaptains]

Nice one! Thank you!

And about our unknown friend, I'll check what Tony Gill said. Thanks

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

that fish is awesome, its like a cross between a diamond goby, twinspot goby, and a baby tiger shark. really cool!

Hers's a pic of my Tiger watchman Goby

 

[Tony Gill]

That is a nice fish - wish I had one! The common name you give for this species (Valenciennea wardii) is a bit mis-leading as it implies it is shrimp associated. As far as I know, no Valenciennea species are shrimp associates. Having said that, the other names commonly used for Valenciennea species - sleepers or sleeper gobies - is even more misleading. The name sleeper is more properly applied to members of the Eleotridae - in Australia the same fishes are called gudgeons. At one time this family included Valenciennea and other gobioids with separate pelvic fins - rather than the fused fins found in Gobiidae. However, this character is now known to be unreliable, as many gobiids lack fusion between the pelvic fins. A more reliable character for Gobiidae (though not readily observed on living fish) is the number of branchiostegal rays (bony supports for the gill membranes): gobiids (including Valenciennea) have only 5, whereas other gobioids have 6.

Tony

 

[madcaptains]

Yes it's a really nice fish! I have been working on its profile this morning and had trouble to find information about it. Books I have don't say much about it and I did not find better info on the net.
Here is what I got. With all the confusion around this, I hope I got it right.

 

[crazyfishlady]

 

[crazyfishlady]

Is that a toadstool? That's awesome, how old is it?

Neon Goby hard at work

 

[Tony Gill]

Great job on the account on V. wardii. There really isn't much on the species in the scientific literature. The genus was revised by goby experts Doug Hoese and Helen Larson. (Hoese, D.F. & H.K. Larson. 1994. Revision of the Indo-Pacific fish genus Valenciennea, with descriptions of seven new species. Indo-Pacific Fishes 23: 1-71.) Doug was my PhD advisor at the Australian Museum. (I did my PhD on dottybacks, but have since published on some gobioids and on gobioid classification.) At the time they wrote their revision, Doug and Helen had fewer than 30 specimens of the species available for study. Their material was from scattered localities throughout the Indo-west Pacific (including the Red Sea). However, they noted considerable variation in coloration in specimens from different localities, and I suspect a re-examination of more material (which is now available) may justify splitting the species up into more narrowly distributed speces. Almost all of the specimens available in 1994 were from trawling - that's a fair indication that they do not occur around reefs. (Trawlers avoid reefs, else their nets get snagged.) Doug and Helen noted that Jack Randall had observed the species in the Red Sea in burrows on silty sand bottom in 16 m (around 50 feet).

A supplier here in AZ (Aquarium Plants, Pond Plants, Freshwater Aquarium Plant & Aquarium Accessories – Arizona Aquatic Gardens) apparently sells the species for brackish aquaria. I'm not sure I believe that - but I guess it may enter estuaries.

Hope this is of some help.

Tony

 

[madcaptains]

Some of the pictures you sent me are now on my blog. I don't have experience with all those fish so I had to search a little to make the profiles. If you see something that is not right, thanks to let me know.

They are all here; Aquarium Life: Gobies

I'll add the other pictures within the end of the week.


Thanks again for your help!!

 

[austinsdad]

Looking good!!!

 

[madcaptains]

Thank you

 

[Tony Gill]

I'll check over the identifications for you when I get into work. (I keep my fish library there, and have a large collection of books and scientific papers on goby identification.) At a glance the identifications look fine to me. There is a slight problem with how you report the names, however. Specific names are made up of two components, the generic name (first part of the name of a species) and the specific epithet (second part of the name of a species). The generic name always begins with a capital letter (as you have correctly done), but the specific epithet always begins with a lower-case letter - even if based on a proper noun (thus, Amblygobius rainfordi, etc.).

Tony

 

[Tony Gill]

I had a quick look over the photos against my literature. I think one of the species is incorrectly identified: what you've called Gobiodon atrangulatus appears to be G. histrio. If so, it looks like it is widely misidentified on aquarium websites. I'll ask my colleagues Tony Harold and Rick Winterbottom for their opinions, as they have recently completed taxonomic revisionary studies of Gobiodon.

I'll also look into Amblygobius albimaculatus, as distinction between this species and its close relative A. phalaena is not straight-forward. (Well, perhaps it is, but I've forgotten how to tell them apart!)

Tony

 

[madcaptains]

Hi Tony,
I think you may be right about Gobiodon atrangulatus that appears to be G. histrio. I'll search a little more about that before to make any change (just to be sure). Maybe Fluff knows

Thanks

 

[Fluff]

I bought it as an atrangulatus but after doing some research on fishbase, histro certainly seems more appropriate. I would change it. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Tony Gill]

I heard back from Tony Harold and he said you have G. histrio as well. Gobiodon atrangulatus (which he said should really be called G. axillaris) is a very different species: it is olive-brown on the head and body, with 3-4 red bands on the face; the area between the bands is paler; there is a prominent black spot on the upper margin of the opercle; and there is a dark red stripe or series of spots at the base of the dorsal and anal fins.

He suggested the following reference for Gobiodon identification (though I'm not sure how readily available it is):

Munday, P.L., A.S. Harold & R. Winterbottom. 1999. Guide to coral-dwelling gobies, genus Gobiodon (Gobiidae), from Papua New Guinea and the Great Barrier Reef. Revue francaise d'aquariologie 12(1-2): 53-58.

Tony

 

[madcaptains]

That's great information. I'll make the changes sometime today but I am not sure how to find that reference. Thank you very much for that!

 

[fijiwigi]

Here is a better pic of just my orange spotted goby. still not perfect I will continue to try and take a better picture.