Species: Ptereleotris helenae, Hovering goby, Hovering dartfish
head blue stripes
Ptereleotris helenae (Randall, 1968)
Hovering goby, Hovering dartfish
Body very elongate, compressed; head strongly compressed; mouth very oblique, opens above, lower jaw projecting, chin with longitudinal fold; dorsal fin VI + I, 23-25; anal fin I, 22-24; pectoral fins 20-22; pelvic fins separate, I, 4; tail fin rounded in adults, slightly concave in juveniles, moderately long; scales very small, usually non-overlapping, embedded, 135-166 on mid-side, smooth with a few rough at rear, head scaleless; no lateral line.
Head and body pale bluish-gray, with lavender overtones; blue stripe from between eyes to dorsal origin; 2 blue stripes behind eye; yellow stripe on underside of head; dorsal and anal fins greenish-yellow; red stripe near outer edge of the second dorsal and anal fins and the upper and lower edges of the tail fin.
Reaches 12.0 cm.
Habitat: Found on sandy or coral rubble bottoms; Inhabits 'U-shaped' burrows. Often in pairs.
Depth range: 3–180 m.
The Bahamas to the S Caribbean.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Soft bottom only
- Sand & gravel
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Planktivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Zooplankton
- Data
- Egg Type
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- Benthic
- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Global Endemism
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- All species.
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- GC endemic
- Continent + Island (s)
- All species..
- Island (s)
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 12
- Depth Range Min
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- 3
- Depth Range Max
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- 180
