unknown fish

[sionowz]

Hi, I recently bought a 'blue cheek goby' from my lfs ...but after looking on the net it does not look like the blue cheek at all! can anyone tell mke what it is?? cheers ... sionowz

[Ninong]

You're right, it's definitely not Valenciennea strigata, it's Ptereleotris zebra. Here is link to a whole bunch of pics I found online. Here is your fish. Here is an article on the genus Ptereleotris in Reefkeeping magazine.

It's called a goby but it's really a dartfish. It's not in the Family Gobiidae, it's in the Family Ptereleotridae.

I think it's gorgeous!



P.S. -- I had a heck of a time figuring out what you meant by "blue cheek goby," because I usually think of that one as "yellow-headed sleeper goby." After a few minutes of searching online, I came across six or seven different English common names for the same fish and "blue cheek goby" was one of them, along with blue streak goby, blue banded goby, pennant glider, golden-headed sleeper goby, yellow-headed sleeper goby, etc. All the same fish, Valenciennea strigata! That's why I hate common names!

[kevinpo]

The common name is "Green Barred Goby". A very peaceful fish that can be kept in groups, pairs, or singularly. Often a jumper. They are very hardy (disease resistant) and dig a burrow under a rock in the sand to sleep in at night. Great community fish.

HTH,
Kevin

[Ninong]

The common name is "Green Barred Goby". A very peaceful fish that can be kept in groups, pairs, or singularly. Often a jumper. They are very hardy (disease resistant) and dig a burrow under a rock in the sand to sleep in at night. Great community fish.

HTH,
Kevin

Kevin,

Is that the name they're giving to Ptereleotris zebra? Where do the green bars come in???? (P.S. -- I think the green part refers to body background color and not the color of the bars. Fishbase gives it's body color as yellow to grayish-green.)

I found several other English common names for this fish but I can't seem to find "green barred goby."

[kevinpo]

Yes, and it is also called the "Bar Goby" They look like they have green bars on their sides. The pictures on Fish Base aren't very good. The picture in Scott Michael's "Marine Fishes" is better. They have a peculiar behavior of turning their head bright yellow in an instant when they are courting. I would guess it is the male that does this. They can become tame enough to touch when feeding.

Regards,
Kevin

[Ninong]

Yes, and it is also called the "Bar Goby" They look like they have green bars on their sides. The pictures on Fish Base aren't very good. The picture in Scott Michael's "Marine Fishes" is better. They have a peculiar behavior of turning their head bright yellow in an instant when they are courting. I would guess it is the male that does this. They can become tame enough to touch when feeding.

Regards,
Kevin

OK, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page and both talking about P. zebra. You had me confused there for a minute because the bars are actually pink to orange, outlined with blue to purple, according to a description I found. All of the pictures I found show pink bars outlined in blue. Maybe they look green when the fish is moving?

Here is a better picture I found online but unfortunately the dorsal and anal fins are not extended.

[Ninong]

That is a Hovering Goby. Feeding Habits They eat Invertebrates (crustaceans, molluscs, etc.) Aquarium Lighting No sunlight. Temperament Peaceful community fish. Aquarium setup Coral. Swimming habits bottom swimmer. other cm = maximum length to which the fish grows ( in centimeters) 24 cm.

Exotic Seahorses
Ross

Ross,

Do you have a scientific name for the hovering goby because if it grows to a maximum of 24 cm, then it's definitely not the fish sionowz has. P. zebra grows to a maximum of 12 cm (SL) according to fishbase.

[sionowz]

thanx guys..great stuff
sionowz

[Ninong]

The fishbase is wrong! I have one and I sell them that is a hovering goby scientific name is Ioglossus helenae they come from Mini Atlas the picture that the person has to show. I will give you the 12 fish that grows 12 cm of grow scientific name of goby that is Opistognathus ionchurus, Parapercis sexfasciata, Malacoctenus margaritae, Chaenopsis ocellata, that grows 12.5 cm, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos, Gobius auratus, Gobius elanthematicus, Valenciennea puellaris, Valenciennea puellaris, ptereleotris evides, Periophthaimus sp. Kevin the fishbase needs to be update. I will be happy to help if you guys need the engish words. I know my marine fish I been doing this for a long time.

Exotic Seahorses
Ross

Ross,

Ioglossus helenae is not valid. That was the original combination in 1967 but it was changed by Dr. Randall back in 1968 to Ptereleotris helenae. Taxonomic serial number 636811

P. helenae is a congener of P. zebra but if you read the descriptions, the fish sionowz has is clearly P. zebra. Also, the pictures sionowz posted are clearly P. zebra.


Dr. Randall's picture of P. helenae




Dr. Randall's picture of P. zebra

P.S. -- Maximum size for both species is 12 cm.

[kevinpo]

Hello Kevin:

Kevin

Hello,
You are replying to Ninong not to my reply

I have looked at several other references and concur with Ninong. I have kept this fish for many years and it only grows to 4-4.5".

Regards,
Kevin

[Ninong]

Ross,

There is no genus named Ioglossus! It was renamed decades ago. Therefore, there is no fish with the scientific name of Ioglossus calliurus. That particular species is now called Ptereleotris calliura. Fishbase gives the two synonyms for this fish here. Notice that the original combination was Ioglossus calliurus. Then it's new name was Ptereleotris calliurus until they realized that the Greek word Ptereleotris is feminine, not masculine; so they had to change the name again to Ptereleotris calliura. In the original combination both the genus name and the species name were Latin but in the new combination the genus name is Greek and the species name is Latin.

We ran into this same problem when they finally realized that the Greek word Centropyge is feminine and not masculine as they originally thought. Then they started changing all the species names for this genus to the feminine form but they overdid it. Only descriptive species names have to agree in gender with the genus. In other words, Centropyge bispinosa is correct (used to be C. bispinosus) but C. loricula is NOT correct. That one should stay C. loriculus. This may take some time to get straight because a few of the Americans are hardheaded on this point. The Germans, however, have it right. (P.S. -- I just checked fishbase to see if they have finally corrected C. loriculus but they haven't. They still have it incorrectly as C. loricula. That's because Dr. Gerald R. Allen is their source and he insisted on changing all of the species names in this genus to the feminine form even though that is not what the international convention on scientific nomenclature calls for. This poor fish is showing up under both names in recent publications (American publications). In fact, Scott Michael has it under both spellings in one of his recent books. The Germans have it right. I have been told that it is Dr. Allen who refuses to change.) Looks like ITIS changed C. loriculus to C. loricula, probably in May 2004. They need to change it back to C. loriculus but that will take time.

Scott Michael did have all the new genera of dottybacks in his latest book on them. In fact, he even had pictures of a few unnamed species. I got the names for those from Dr. Gill, the guy who is reorganizing the dottybacks. It's amazing what you can find online and many of these guys will take the time to give you very detailed answers to your emails. That's how I got expert opinions on the gender of my two Cirrhilabrus scottorum. I emailed pics to two different authorities just to make sure I was correct in my suspicion that they were both terminal phase males.

I gave you a link previously to the ITIS listing for Ptereleotris helenae, which was originally called Ioglossus helenae. Click on it's taxonomic serial number in my previous post.

I have verified the information in fishbase on these fish and it is correct. In fact, fishbase even has the new Family name correct. That change was made in 2000 by Dr. Ellen Thaler. As far as the information on the maximum adult size of these fish is concerned, that was given by Dr. John Randall and it has been confirmed by others. It appears to be accurate to me. If you are convinced that you have personal experience with one of these fish and that it grows to 24 cm for you, then it is highly likely that your fish is not the same species as described in fishbase. If, on the other hand, you are relying on something called a "mini Atlas," I suggest you throw it in the trash and get something more accurate.

Fishbase is not the only source of information. I also double-checked with the California Academy of Sciences fish database this morning and I ran this entire genus through a Google scholar search.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the fish sionowz has pictured in the opening post of this thread is Ptereleotris zebra. No doubt whatsoever!

However, I am not surprised that your information, from whatever sources you are using, is incorrect. I come across this all the time with LFS owners who have been using the same sources for years and insist that their information is correct. And you can't rely on the scientific names given by the wholesale distributors because they are frequently wrong.

You don't have to bother sending me any pictures. I have already reviewed enough pictures and descriptions of this species that I have no doubt in my mind as to its identity.



The picture on the left is the one posted by sionowz in the opening post of this thread. The picture in the middle is a picture of P. zebra from a French LFS and the picture on the right is a picture of P. zebra from a Reefkeeping.com article by Henry Schultz. There is another picture of P. zebra in that article, which covers the entire genus.