Species: Tigrigobius dilepis, Orangesided Goby

Tigrigobius dilepis (Robins & Bohlke, 1964)

Orangesided Goby

Elongate; head compressed; snout short with straight profile; head pores difficult to see; eye large; upper lip connected to snout along most of its length; teeth in upper and lower jaws in 4-5 rows of small, elongate, pointed teeth, no canines; gill opening is a short vertical slit in front of pectoral fin base; gill membranes broadly joined to body under throat, with 5 rays; dorsal fin VII (1st spine elongate in males), last 2 spines more widely spaced than preceding spines, + I, 10 (9-11); length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 9 (8-9); pectoral fins 18 (16-19); pelvic fins I,5, disk complete; tail rounded; no scales except for two small very rough scales on tail fin base; no lateral line.

Head white with red blotches and brown bars across and under eyes; body with 8 narrow dark bars between origin of 2nd dorsal fin and tail fin; two large, round red-brown areas on each side of belly, partly surrounded and separated by white, black edged bars; spinal column with alternating white and red sections.

Reaches: 2.5 cm.

Habitat: coral reef areas on vertical walls and on boulder corals.

Depth: 5-30 m.

The Bahamas to the S Caribbean.