Species: Coryphopterus tortugae, Sand Goby

Coryphopterus tortugae (Jordan, 1904)

Sand Goby

Snout short, profile straight; crest on head; head pores present, usually 1 between center of eyes, 1 pair between rear nostril; papillae on cheek in horizontal rows; mouth small, relatively horizontal; gill membranes broadly joined to body under throat, with 5 rays; dorsal fin VI + I, 9; length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 9; pectoral fin 19 (18-20); pelvic fins I, 5, fused into a disc, joined at front, with frenum; tail fin rounded; body covered with scales, scales large, rough, absent from head, 26-27 in lateral series; no lateral line.

Body translucent, with abundant internal yellow-orange to brown marks, and external white spots; body with 3 rows of dark marks, marks in lower row vertically elongate, usually crescentic, occasioally X shaped; top of head with central row of dark spots; white stripe along cheek; two orange stripes extending back from eye, upper stripe incomplete, often broken into short segments; a conspicuous triangular black spot above the operculum; no dark spot in the lower portion of the pectoral fin base; a dark grey bar on base of tail fin.

Reaches: 6.2 cm.

Habitat: sandy bottoms with coralline areas in clear to slightly turbid waters.

Depth: 0-32 m.

Bermuda to the southern Caribbean.