Species: Elacatinus louisae, Spotlight goby
pale stripe yellow then blue, over eye to tail base
dark stripe -> oval spot on C base
Elacatinus louisae (Bohlke & Robins, 1968)
Spotlight goby
Elongate; head compressed; mouth U-shaped, rather short, opens at front, separated from snout by a deep groove, ending before the vertical through rear margin of pupil; top jaw with 2 rows of teeth; tongue tip truncate, varying from slightly convex to slightly emarginated; gill membranes broadly joined to body under throat, with 5 rays; dorsal fin VII + I, 11 (11-12); length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 10 (9-11); pectoral fins 18 (17-19); pelvic fins I, 5; disk complete; tail rounded; no scales; no lateral line.
Dark grey upper head and body; snout almost invariably with a yellow transverse oval to round spot; yellow/yellow-green lateral stripe from over the eye to tail base, stripe fading to silvery to silver-blue behind head, ends before end of dark spot on lower dark stripe; dark stripe below the pale stripe ends in an oval black spot on tail fin base. Juveniles: snout pale yellow, usually with an iridescent tranverse yellow oval spot.
Reaches: 3.8 cm.
Habitat: Large tubular shaped sponges and massive sponges.
Depth: 15-106 m.
Bahamas to the SW Caribbean.
Note: pale spot and stripe whitish in Belize fish.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Habitat
-
- Reef only
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Sponges
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
-
- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
-
- Data
- Mobile benthic worms
- Egg Type
-
- Benthic
- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Global Endemism
-
- West Atlantic Endemic
- All species.
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- All species..
- Continent
- Island (s)
- Continent + Island (s)
- GC endemic
- Insular primarily
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
-
- 3.8
- Depth Range Min
-
- 15
- Depth Range Max
-
- 106
