Species: Varicus decorum, Decorated splitfin goby, Decorated split-fin goby

body- 5 round yellow blotches mid-side, back- 1-2 rows yellow spots
Ds rows yellow spots; C 4-5 yellow bars

Varicus decorum Van Tassell, Baldwin & Tornabene, 2016
Decorated split-fin goby
Body short, robust; head without pores; both nostrils tubular; a groove across top of front lip; gill opening restricted to length of pectoral fin base; gill membranes with 5 rays; dorsal fin VII (none elongate) + I, 9; length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 7-8; pectoral fin 17, rays 12-13 greatly extended, reach well beyond others, to under 2nd dorsal soft ray; pelvic fins I, 5, completely separate, no membrane between 5th rays, no front frenum between spines, all rays unbranched, some may have flattened fleshy tips, 5th ray 1/3- 1/5 length of 4th ray, fins long, extend to between anus & origin of anal fin; scales absent on body; base of tail fin with 2 large, rough scales; no lateral line.
Head and body translucent grey; head with 4 thin yellow bars, 1 under eye, the other along edge of preopercle, two between eyes, a few small yellow spots on nape; body with 5 brownish yellow, round blotches along mid-side, from under 1st dorsal to end of tail base, those decreasing in size to the rear, the last spot distinctly darker; back with one or two alternating rows of 6-10 smaller brownish-yellow spots; dorsal fins translucent, with longitudinally oblique rows of small yellow spots, 2 irregular rows on 1st dorsal, 5-6 rows on 2nd dorsal, forming stripes in the latter; tail fin translucent, with 4-5 thin vertical brownish-yellow bars, the lower 1/5 of the fin sometimes yellow; anal fin white to yellow, the outer ½ suffused with dark grey; pectorals with a yellow spot on upper base, rays yellow; pelvics with yellow rays.
Reaches at least 5.7 cm
Sand and rubble bottoms
Depth range 99-251 m
Known only from Curacao.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Offshore
- In & Offshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom only
- Bottom
- Habitat
-
- Sand & gravel
- Rocks
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef and soft bottom
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
-
- Data
- Planktivore
- Diet
-
- Data
- Zooplankton
- Egg Type
-
- Benthic
- Pelagic
- Data
- Global Endemism
-
- All species.
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- Island (s)
- Island (s) only
- GC endemic
- Antilles endemic
- All species..
- Caribbean endemic
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Listed
- Data deficient
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
-
- 5.7
- Depth Range Min
-
- 99
- Depth Range Max
-
- 251