Goldspot goby

Appearance

Head thick, blunt; a pair of pores between front of eyes; mouth slightly under snout, upper jaw ending before pupil of eye; lips moderately fleshy; teeth conical, in upper jaw in several rows, outer enlarged, slender, and recurved, a single large canine on each side near front; lower jaw similar but with several tusklike canines projecting from side of mouth; front of roof of mouth without teeth; tongue distinctly two-lobed; 4-5 gill rakers; gill membranes broadly joined to body under throat, with 5 rays; dorsal fin VI + I,11; length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 11; pectoral fin 17; pelvic fins I,5 forming a disk; all of body, top of head, cheek and gill cover with scales, scales large, rough; no lateral line.

Body whitish; a narrow dark bar crossing head above eye and extending below middle of eye; a prominent yellow spot surrounded by incomplete dark ring above pectoral fin base; two indistinct brownish orange stripes, 1st running from behind eye to above pectoral base, 2nd beginning at front of gill cover and running to pectoral base.

Reaches: 8.2 cm.

Distribution

Atlantic: southern Florida, North Carolina, the Bahamas, Bermuda through to the Lesser Antilles in western Atlantic; also in the oceanic islands of Ascension, Madeira and St Helena, and Sao Tome Island, Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands in the eastern Atlantic.

Habitat

Open sand bottoms near bases of coral reefs and rock rubble areas.