Gobies

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Q 1.
	What is the difference between a blenny and a goby?
Q 2.
	While skin-diving in the Florida Keys, I saw a small, slender, bright blue fish with a black band, picking at the body of a good-sized parrot fish. The larger fish was “standing still” for this, as if he wanted the smaller fish to pick at him! Can you tell me anything about this experience?
Q 3.
	I would like some information regarding the salt water neon tetra. Do they pick bits of food from bigger fish?
Q 4.
	Do you have any detailed information available on the violet goby, which we appear to have here in some summer months. I say "appear to have" because I believe this is the proper name for what is locally known as the dog-faced eel.
Q 5.
	Our diving club recently cleaned the bottom of a small yacht club basin at Tyndall AFR. We picked up an amazing variety of junk, including hundreds of beer and soda cans. I noticed as I was collecting the cans that the ones with pop tops had at least one small fish living in each. Do you think the spawning habits of the local fish have made them dependent on the cans? Have we been too fast to condemn the pop top can in an age when the old spawning areas are being destroyed? Could old cans be used to build fish houses or communities?
Q 6.
	A friend of mine told me that she saw two blennies "kissing" for several seconds. What is the reason for such behavior?
Q 7.
	I photographed this blenny in 3 to 5 feet of water among large rocks off the west coast of Tobago. The fish was about 2 inches long. Can you identify it?
Q 8.
	While diving in waters off Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, I photographed these two fishes. They were both resting within an eroded shallow cavity in the top of a brain coral at a depth of 30 feet. I have seen them only once, despite numerous dive trips to Bonaire. Can you identify them?
Q 9.
	I saw a blenny with a yellow, patterned head while scuba diving in water about 25-feet deep off Abaco, Bahamas. The fish had a black eyespot near the front of its dorsal fin. Can you identify this fish?


_{-- a n s w e r s a b o u t G o b i e s --}
	Q&A 1.	What is the difference between a blenny and a goby?
	Blennies (Blenniidae) and gobies (Gobiidae) are small, usually elongate bottom-living fishes that are quite abundant in tide pools or rocky shores throughout all warm seas. Some forms are capable of leaving the water for short periods of time, or “skipping” over the rocks from one pool to another with a great show of speed. Superficially these two families of fish look quite similar, but they may be distinguished by the fact that the paired pelvic fins (located beneath the head in these fishes) are directed outward to the sides in the blennies and consist of but two or three rays each, while in the gobies the fins are united into a central fan-like structure which is believed to assist them in clinging to the rocks which they live.
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	Q&A 2.	While skin-diving in the Florida Keys, I saw a small, slender, bright blue fish with a black band, picking at the body of a good-sized parrot fish. The larger fish was “standing still” for this, as if he wanted the smaller fish to pick at him! Can you tell me anything about this experience? Helena, Montana
	You undoubtedly saw the neon goby, Gobisoma oceanops, which is known for its habit of cleaning other fishes. It probably was removing ectoparasites from the parrotfish by feeding on them. This mode of feeding has been recorded from other parts of the world as well as Florida Keys, especially for small wrasses. One, or sometimes more than one, of these gobies occupies a definite spot on the reef, usually a mound of Porites coral, and the other fishes come to this spot to be rid of their parasites. The gobies have been observed to enter the buccal and gill cavities of other fishes via the mouth or gill opening, presumably to feed on parasites in these cavities.
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	Q&A 3.	I would like some information regarding the salt water neon tetra. Do they pick bits of food from bigger fish? Jupiter, Florida
	The neon tetra is a small fresh water fish of the family Characidae and occurs only in South America. Undoubtedly the fish to which you refer is the neon goby, Gobisoma oceanops. This is a small and colorful species with a bright blue lateral stripe. It is common in the Florida keys and several closely related species are found in the Bahamas and Antilles. It feeds on small parasites which it removes from the sides and gills of larger fishes.
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	Q&A 4.	Do you have any detailed information available on the violet goby, which we appear to have here in some summer months. I say "appear to have" because I believe this is the proper name for what is locally known as the dog-faced eel. Stuart, Florida
	The violet goby, Gobioides broussonnetti, is a common burrowing species that prefers inshore estuarine environments where the bottom is well silted. The species tends to be common where found, but irregular in its distribution. For example, in Florida it is rare in the southeastern section of the state, but very common around Stuart. It is also especially numerous in the Mississippi Delta, and it is in this region that the fish is known as the violet goby. Almost nothing is known of the basic biology or life history of this species. Like most gobies that have special ecological requirements in inshore waters, the violet goby has a prolonged larval stage. Such a stage is essential for the species to find other favorable habitats.
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	Q&A 5.	Our diving club recently cleaned the bottom of a small yacht club basin at Tyndall AFR. We picked up an amazing variety of junk, including hundreds of beer and soda cans. I noticed as I was collecting the cans that the ones with pop tops had at least one small fish living in each. Do you think the spawning habits of the local fish have made them dependent on the cans? Have we been too fast to condemn the pop top can in an age when the old spawning areas are being destroyed? Could old cans be used to build fish houses or communities? Panama City, Florida
	The fishes in the cans are probably blennies or gobies, which are found in rocky areas and around pilings. They do not depend on the cans for survival and are just using them to extend their living area to places where they otherwise would not go-they hide a lot. Some use cans for nesting sites. As for the moral issue, the situation you describe is similar to what we find around artificial reefs made of junk cars. The numbers of fishes increase but they often are not the same species that originally inhabited the area (what happens to the former residents is not known). There is no certain answer to the question of whether or not the environment should be altered in this way. The question about beer can communities is interesting, since ornamental cement block is used for "fish apartments" when blennies are kept in the laboratory. It is doubtful that can communities, however, would be worth the trouble to build.
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	Q&A 6.	A friend of mine told me that she saw two blennies "kissing" for several seconds. What is the reason for such behavior? Freeburg, Illinois
	The "kissing blennies" were probably performing a common act called mouth fighting. In such an encounter, two fishes line up mouth to mouth and spar briefly, usually with no damage to either contestant. The exact function of mouth fighting is unknown, but perhaps it is a type of boundary display.
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	Q&A 7.	I photographed this blenny in 3 to 5 feet of water among large rocks off the west coast of Tobago. The fish was about 2 inches long. Can you identify it? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
	Your photograph shows the oranges potted blenny (Hypleurochilus springeri). Growing to a maximum length of 2 inches, this small species is found in waters from southern Florida and the Bahamas to northern South America. It frequents shallow waters in rocky coastal areas and is thought to feed on worms, small crustaceans, and filamentous algae.
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	Q&A 8.	While diving in waters off Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, I photographed these two fishes. They were both resting within an eroded shallow cavity in the top of a brain coral at a depth of 30 feet. I have seen them only once, despite numerous dive trips to Bonaire. Can you identify them? Richmond, Virginia
	Although the two fishes in your pictures are somewhat similar in appearance, they belong to different families, according to Dr. C. Richard Robins of the University of Miami. The fish with the white freckles is the blackhead blenny (Emblemaria bahamensis), a member of the family Clinidae. Except for the adult males, which have black coloration around the head, this blenny is usually colorless and translucent as in the female shown in the photograph. The other fish, with dark markings, is the orangesided goby (Gobiosoma dilepsis), a member of the family Gobidae. Robins reports that this species is seldom photographed with its characteristic coloration. Both these fishes grow to about 1 inch in length and have been found on patch reefs surrounded by white sand in waters 25 to 50 feet deep.
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	Q&A 9.	I saw a blenny with a yellow, patterned head while scuba diving in water about 25-feet deep off Abaco, Bahamas. The fish had a black eyespot near the front of its dorsal fin. Can you identify this fish? Miami, Florida
	You saw the diamond blenny (Malacoctenus boehlkei). Its distinctive features include the yellow head and the eyelike black blotch that is bordered in yellowish-orange and located halfway up the front part of the spinous dorsal fin. The fish's body markings often include spots on its head, triangles on its back, and diamond shapes on its sides. The body color and marking hues differ slightly between the male and female blennies. The 2.5-inch diamond blenny lives in Bahamian waters and some parts of the Caribbean. It associates with the pink-tipped sea anemone (Condylactis gigantea). When predators approach, the blenny takes refuge in the anemone's tentacles.
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	Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science Library University of Miami, FL USA 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149 Phone: 305 421 4060 Fax: 305 421 9306 E-mail: libcirc@rsmas.miami.edu		go to the top