Species: Derilissus lombardii, Tailspot Clingfish

Derilissus lombardii Sparks & Gruber, 2012

Tailspot Clingfish

Body slender, only slightly depressed at front; head narrow, snout short, profile very steep and rounded; mouth opening underneath; eyes large; front nostril an elongate tube, without a flap; rear nostrils slightly tubular; top lip broad at front, narrow on sides; teeth in 2 rows on top jaws, 1 row on bottom, with 3-pointed incisors at front of both jaws; thin, short, triangular gill rakers; median fins short; 1 dorsal fin, at rear, no spines, 8; anal fin 7, like dorsal fin and under it; first ray hidden on dorsal and anal fins; pectoral rays 23-24; a poorly developed fleshy pad on lower pectoral base; sucker large, papillae small, center of sucker with 2 separate cluster of 8-9 close-set papillae, with a single papilla in front of each cluster, and behind the clusters a crescent of 5 papillae with a single one before the center of that group; rear edge of sucker strongly convex; no scales; lateral line present as pores on head only.

Body bright orange red to bright yellow, with a strong red stripe along the mid-side, from behind the eye to the tail base; several faint broad orange bars on body; head yellow, with orange spotting between eyes and on front of nape; iris red brown; top of eye with 2 rows of dark spots separated by a thin yellow line; center of end of tail base with a prominent elongate oval black spot; pectoral bright yellow; dorsal, tail and anal fins clear, with red spotting

Reaches 1.5 cm.

Lives on deep vertical reef walls, on gorgonian corals

Depth range: 30-132 m.

The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands.