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Species
Gobiidae
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The fossil history of gobies is from the Eocene epoch to present.
- Berg, L. 1958. System Der Rezenten und Fossilen Fischartigen und Fische. Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften.
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The larval eleotrid Dormitator maculatus has a similar general appearance and shares most of the markings, including the abdominal promontory and jaw angle melanophores, but the abdominal midline streak extends to the level of the swimbladder (shared with the other eleotrid species) and there is no internal melanophore around the gut near the vent. Some immature larvae of the long gobies, such as Microgobius superficially resemble this type, but have many more median-fin rays and very short caudal peduncles and are usually longer than 8 mm SL. Immature Bollmannia boqueronensis larvae may resemble this type, but have more median-fin rays and a much larger irregular eye, along with additional melanophores.
Description: Body relatively thick, long, and narrow with a medium round eye and a terminal large wide mouth. Head broad and slightly flattened. Dorsal and anal-fin bases short, caudal peduncle relatively wide and long and procurrent caudal-fin rays 8-9 (8 spindly). Lightly marked, mostly along the ventral midline: at the isthmus, along the pelvic-fin insertion and extending onto the abdominal midline, often with a clear Y-shape diverging from the pelvic-fin insertion (post-pelvic Y), then often a melanophore on the abdominal promontory just forward of the vent, followed by paired melanophores along the anal-fin base and then a row (or streak) extending along the caudal peduncle ending near the start of the procurrent caudal-fin rays. Melanophores are present on the base of most of the lower caudal-fin segmented rays. Melanophores on the head are limited to the angle of the jaw. There are internal melanophores along the dorsal surface of the swim bladder and around the gut near the vent.
Goby 1125 larva
Goby 1125 larvae
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Gobies are extremely important in almost any ecosystem they occupy because their relative abundance makes them an essential part of the food chain. Gobies have the greatest impact on the benthic environment since most reside there. Gobies may be the keystone species (dominant in the food chain) in the freshwaters of small oceanic islands because they are often one of the few species of fish that exist in these areas.
Ecosystem Impact: keystone species ; parasite
Species Used as Host:
- Branched Corals
- Sponges
- Sea Urchins
Mutualist Species:
- Shrimps
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Return to Goby Introduction
Group 5: divided pelvic-fin gobies .
Barbulifer, Risor, Ginsburgellus, Gobiosoma, Elacatinus, and Tigrigobius
This group includes many of the small gobies on and around Caribbean reefs that live well-hidden around coral structure or inside sponges. Most are inconspicuous and rarely noticed on the reef. The main exception is the group of cleaner gobies that live on prominent coral heads and sponges and remove parasites from passing fishes. They need to advertise and typically have bright blue or yellow stripes on a black background. Interestingly, a set of related sponge gobies share the colored stripe, but do not apparently clean other fishes; the reason for their colors could either be to receive some protection from the relative immunity of cleaners from predation (mimicry) or advertise the fact that they produce noxious chemicals. The striped sponge gobies usually stay in their sponges and do not perch in conspicuous locations as do the cleaners. A group of small non-descript inshore, sometimes even freshwater, gobies are also in this group. The phylogenetic relationships are not resolved and some species have been shuttled around into various genera over the years. The most recent change has been the returning of the non-cleaner/sponge gobies of Elacatinus back to Tigrigobius, where they form a cohesive grouping.
The larvae of Group 3 gobies are typically very small and lightly marked, usually with only a few ventral midline melanophores or often just a single post-anal-fin spot. The basic shortfin meristics (usually 8-11 second-dorsal and anal-fin elements) and general appearance are shared by some larvae of the six-spined standard gobies of Group 2 and the two groups can be a challenge to separate when the dorsal-fin spines are not easily apparent. Similarly, some of the divided pelvic-fin gobies, Group 5, have larvae that are similar in size, shape, and markings to the Group 3 gobies and they also can be difficult to distinguish when the state of the pelvic fins is not obvious. The few Group 3 gobies with 13 second dorsal-fin elements overlap the lower range of fin counts of the longfin gobies of Group 4, but have a quite different body shape and larval appearance. Only the occasional Gobiosoma from US waters have counts that high, but they notably have no more than 11 anal-fin elements.
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Due to their small size, gobies must be wary of many different predators, such as sea snakes, shore birds and larger fishes. It’s no surprise that they have developed a wide range of behaviors to defend themselves. Perhaps the most characteristic feature of gobies is their secretive nature. They rarely leave their burrows and display a wide range of coloration for camouflage. Some gobies are translucent and have only a few colored spots to match their surroundings while others have formed symbiotic relationships with shrimp. In the latter case Crytocentrus steinitzni sits outside the burrow watching guard while the shrimp clears out the burrow they share. Cleaner fishes of the genus Gobiosoma enjoy relative freedom from predation due to their color pattern and cleaning behavior. Others live within sponges, sea urchins, the branches of corals, or the roofs of caves for protection. Some gobies even rely on chemical protection, producing a poison called tetrodotoxin, which also occurs in pufferfishes and species of salamander. Some morphological adaptations can be found in mudskippers (Boleophthalmus, Periophthalmus, Periophthalmadon, and Scartelaos). The eyes of mudskippers are located on the tops of their heads to detect and avoid shore birds as well as to locate prey, and their powerful tail allows them to move quickly along the mud.
Known Predators:
- larger fish (Actinopterygii)
- sea snakes (Hydrophiidae)
- shore birds (Charadriiformes)
Anti-predator Adaptations: aposematic ; cryptic
- Helfman, G., B. Collete, D. Facey. 1997. The Diversity of Fishes. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
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Most of the Coryphopterus species are sand gobies, i.e. small sand-perching gobies with pale bodies and a set of dark stripes and spots. There are numerous species and larvae cannot confidently be identified to the species level without DNA sequencing. Fin-ray counts can distinguish the sand goby species with fewer or more than 10 dorsal and anal-fin elements, but many of the species and the vast majority of specimens share the 10/10 fin-ray count. The non-sand species comprise C. lipernes, a colorful coral-dwelling species, and C. personatus and C. hyalinus, both colorful hovering gobies that school in groups over corals and sponges. The sand and non-sand species are similar as larvae and share a suite of larval characters, but can be distinguished.
Description: Body relatively thin, long and narrow with a large eye and a terminal mouth. Paired fins medium to long at transition, dorsal and anal-fin bases relatively short, caudal peduncle long and narrow, procurrent caudal-fin rays 7-10 (7-8 spindly). Lightly marked mostly along the lower body: melanophores on the ventral midline at the isthmus and the pelvic-fin insertion (usually streaks). Rare variants have a melanophore on the abdominal midline promontory just forward of the vent. There is a row of melanophores along the anal-fin base, usually five, paired and one per side between the third and eighth element (often merged into a streak on each side). Then, after a space, there is a row of midline melanophores, usually seven or eight unpaired (but often merged into a streak) extending along the ventral caudal peduncle ending near the start of the procurrent caudal-fin rays. Melanophores are typically present on the base of several (usually 4 or 5) of the lower segmented caudal-fin rays extending up to halfway out along the rays. The majority of larvae have one (often none or two, occasionally three or four) melanophores on the dorsal midline just after the last dorsal-fin ray (proportions vary greatly between collections). Some have an additional small melanophore off-center of the dorsal midline near the base of some of the mid-soft-dorsal-fin rays. Many (all?) have melanophores on the distal membranes between the anal-fin rays, usually between the second and sixth elements. Internal melanophores are present at the base of the saccule and often above the saccule and sometimes several around the rear braincase, along the dorsal surface of the swim bladder, and around the gut near the vent. Most individuals have a melanophore at the angle of the jaw, however less-developed larvae are often missing them (but they do have caudal-fin melanophores, separating them from C. personatus).
Early-stage larvae before the completion of all of the fin elements have a dorsal and ventral indentation in the iris, with some later-stage larvae retaining a dorsal indentation in the iris. Series of transitional larvae show development of the eye from a moderately-narrowed vertical oval, often somewhat squared-off, with a small posterior-inferior extension of the iris, to round. The extension has no surface melanophores overlying it, or, at most, a single small melanophore at the dorsal edge (vs. C. personatus, see comparative photograph under C. personatus). Rare individuals show abnormal enlargements of this extension (interestingly, often several in the same collection). There is often a prominently speckled "eyebrow" membrane over the upper half and posterior of the eyeball that appears detached from the pigmented iris below.
Although the length of the pelvic rays are an important character as adults, larvae and juveniles typically have the innermost pelvic-fin ray slightly shorter or about equal in length to the next ray. The pelvic frenum is not usually visible, but may develop on all juveniles in the group (see C. dicrus). Larvae have fused pelvic fins, and the species with divided pelvic fins likely develop the division after transition (unknown for C. alloides, but confirmed for C. lipernes and C. personatus).
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Gobiidae is prey of:
Actinopterygii
organic stuff
Hydrophiidae
Charadriiformes
Based on studies in:
Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands shelf (Reef)
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
- Opitz S (1996) Trophic interactions in Caribbean coral reefs. ICLARM Tech Rep 43, Manila, Philippines
- Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 16, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org. http://www.animaldiversity.org
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Rights holder/Author | Cynthia Sims Parr, Joel Sachs, SPIRE |
Source | http://spire.umbc.edu/fwc/ |
The large goby genus Coryphopterus contains numerous species in the Caribbean, several of which are particularly difficult to distinguish, sometimes even as adults. The results of my barcode (mtDNA) sequencing for this group show that many of the important characters used to separate adults do not apply to larvae or juveniles. Since the basic markings and morphology of the early stages are shared by many of the species in the group, DNA sequencing is likely the only reliable way to distinguish species for most larvae and some juveniles.
One of the primary causes of the difficulty in identifying juveniles and adults of Coryphopterus species in the western Atlantic is the extreme variability in the degree of dark markings with habitat. All of the sand gobies have lightly-marked forms on white sand in clear water and heavily-marked forms on darker sediments in more turbid waters, particularly along continental coastlines. This variation can become extreme in several species (C. tortugae, C. bol, C. eidolon, and C. thrix), with some individuals showing almost no dark markings at all. These super-pallid individuals can be impossible to identify to species without DNA sequencing. On the other hand, heavily-marked populations of some typically pallid species, for example C. eidolon, have not been recognized as conspecific and are typically assigned to other species in museum collections.
An additional problem when using the literature and field-guides for identifications is the presence of heretofore cryptic species in the common 10/10 sand-perching bridled-goby group, i.e. the recently twice-redescribed "pallid" bridled goby C. tortugae and a new more-offshore species C. bol (Victor 2008). These species are presently lumped by most observers as variants of the bridled goby C. glaucofraenum. To avoid confusion, I propose that C. glaucofraenum retain the original "bridled goby" common name, while C. tortugae should be called the "patch-reef goby" and C. bol should be called the "sand-canyon goby", after their distinctive habitats.
Most of the characters traditionally used to separate sand gobies do not apply to juvenile or larval stages. For example, the morphology of the pelvic fin is one of the more important taxonomic characters separating the regional Coryphopterus species. The degree of joining of the pelvic fins, the relative length of the innermost ray, and the presence or absence of the pelvic frenum are diagnostic for some adult Coryphopterus (the pelvic-fin frenum is the anterior membrane running from spine to spine that forms the fin into a sucking disk). My DNA barcoding results, however, reveal that pelvic-fin characters do not apply to larvae, recruits, or even small juveniles of several species. For example, the species with divided pelvic fins have fused pelvic fins as larvae and small juveniles (i.e. C. alloides, C. personatus, C. hyalinus, and C. lipernes). The pelvic frenum can be present in juveniles of species that later do not have one (C. dicrus) and the innermost pelvic-fin rays do not become distinctly shorter or longer until well after the transitional stage.
Transitional sand gobies can develop their metamorphic melanophores in differing sequences, leading to a proliferation of transitional larval types that certainly represent the same species. At least some of this variation may reflect the marked variability in the degree of markings with habitat types, with lightly-marked juveniles living on white sand and those on darker backgrounds or more turbid waters being heavily-marked. The light marking may occur in larvae as well, where a significant portion of individuals are missing the melanophores on the caudal-fin base and/or the dorsal caudal peduncle. If these patterns prove to occur within the same species, it raises a very interesting question whether larvae have pre-determined which habitat to settle onto or the trait is flexible.
species: #dorsal/#anal-fin elements #pectoral rays (pelvic-fin form), sand or other goby
10/10 group (widespread and abundant species) C. glaucofraenum: Randall: 10/10 pect 17-20 Bohlke: 10/10, rare 9 pect 17-20 usu 19 C. tortugae: Acero: 10/10 pect 18-20 C. bol: Victor 2008: 10/10 pect 18-20 C. eidolon: Randall: 10 (11 is a typo)/9-10, mode 10 pect 19-20, rare 18 Bohlke: 10/10, rare 9 pect 19-20 C. thrix: Bohlke: 9-10/10 pect 17-19 C. dicrus: Randall: 10/10 pect 18-20 Bohlke: 10/10 pect 18-20 11 group (localized endemics) C. punctipectophorus: Bohlke: 11/10 pect 18-20 (South Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico) C. venezuelae: Cervigon: 11/11 pect 18-20 (NE Venezuela: Cubagua, Isla Margarita, and Cumana) fewer than 10 (widespread, but notably uncommon) C. kuna: 9/9 pect 15 C. alloides: 10/9 Bohlke: 10, rare 9/9, rare 8 pect 16-17 (divided pelvic fins)
C. lipernes: 10/10 pect 16-18 (divided pelvic fins) C. hyalinus: 10/10 pect 14-16 (divided pelvic fins) C. personatus: Randall: 11/11 pect 14-16 (occ. 10/10) Bohlke: 10-11, mode 11/10-11, mode 11 pect 14-16 (divided pelvic fins)
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Gobiidae preys on:
Isopoda
Amphipoda
Pycnogonidae
Tanaidae
non-insect arthropods
Based on studies in:
Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands shelf (Reef)
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
- Opitz S (1996) Trophic interactions in Caribbean coral reefs. ICLARM Tech Rep 43, Manila, Philippines
- Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 16, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org. http://www.animaldiversity.org
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Cynthia Sims Parr, Joel Sachs, SPIRE |
Source | http://spire.umbc.edu/fwc/ |
Return to Goby Introduction
Group 5: divided pelvic-fin gobies .
These two large genera include many of the abundant small gobies ubiquitous on and around Caribbean reefs. They share six first-dorsal-fin spines and 9, 10, or 11 dorsal and anal-fin elements. The larvae of these gobies are typically small and lightly marked, usually with only a ventral midline series of melanophores (at the isthmus, pelvic-fin base, anal-fin base and caudal peduncle). The larvae of this group and the seven-spined short-fin gobies (Group 3) can appear similar; although, with the characters discussed here, they should all be able to be identified, at least to genus.
The large genus Coryphopterus dominates this group of gobies and accounts for the vast majority of gobies one sees on a Caribbean coral reef. The largest group within Coryphopterus are the sand gobies. These fishes can be found perching on the bottom along the sandy edges of hard substrate, seemingly everywhere except in the most turbid or muddy environments. The sand gobies are particularly difficult to identify to the species level in the field and, even when in the hand, careful examination of marking patterns is required to distinguish the species. This becomes even more difficult for smaller juveniles that have not developed their species-specific marking patterns. The other group of Coryphopterus, the hovering masked and glass gobies, are also very abundant, although more reef-associated. They are found in large groups just off the bottom on almost every coral reef in the region.
The Lythrypnus gobies are much less conspicuous, but may also be quite abundant on reefs. Their larvae can be difficult to separate from those of Coryphopterus
The small lightly-marked goby larvae account for a major fraction of larval collections in the region. They are superficially quite similar, sharing the ventral midline markings and an otherwise unremarkable appearance. Before counting fin rays, the basic appearance of the larvae can distinguish the three most common genera. The larvae below are from a typical collection: Coryphopterus personatus in the middle, Lythrypnus nesiotes below, and Microgobius signatus above. The body shape of each is distinctive: Coryphopterus larvae tend to be hunched-over, Lythrypnus are usually not hunched-over and have a slightly wider body with a shorter caudal peduncle, and larval Microgobius are long and straight with a blunted upward-facing mouth and a sharply-tapering caudal peduncle.
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