Species: Elacatinus colini, Belize sponge goby
Elacatinus colini Randall & Lobel, 2009
Belize sponge goby
Elongate; head compressed; mouth U-shaped, a little under snout; upper lip separated from snout by a groove; tongue straight edged; teeth in upper jaw in 2 rows, those of males with outer row of 2 enlarged fangs near rear; lower jaw with three large fangs, females also with enlarged canines; gill membranes broadly joined to body under throat, with 5 rays; dorsal fin VII + I, 11 (10-12); length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 10 (10-11); pectoral fins 18 (17-19); pelvic fins I, 5, disk complete; tail rounded; no scales; no lateral line.
Upper body greenish grey to bluish; snout and lips yellowish brown; a narrow median bright yellow bar from top lip to between front of eyes; a narrow (pupil width) stripe runs high along body from top part of eye ball to front half of tail fin, that stripe yellow on eye and back to operculum, white along body, sometimes with a blue tint at its end on the tail fin; body with a dark grey to blackish eye-width stripe under white stripe; lower part of head and body whitish. Note: yellow bar on snout may be lost in freshly collected dead specimens, exposing the black undercoat.
Reaches: 3.2 cm.
Habitat: Sponge dweller in lagoon habitats.
Depth: 2-17 m.
Belize and Honduras.
Note: A member of the E. xanthiprora species complex.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Habitat
-
- Sponges
- Reef only
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
-
- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
-
- Data
- Mobile benthic worms
- Egg Type
-
- Data
- Pelagic larva
- Benthic
- Global Endemism
-
- All species.
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- Continent
- GC endemic
- Continent only
- Caribbean endemic
- All species..
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Depth Range Max
-
- 17
- Depth Range Min
-
- 2
- Length Max
-
- 3.2
