Species: Varicus veliguttatus, Spotted-sail goby

Varicus veliguttatus Van Tassell, Baldwin & Gilmore, 2016

Spotted-sail 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; teeth on both jaws in 3 rows, outer row of curved canines, those larger on top jaw, inner rows on both jaws smaller, irregularly spaced; gill membranes with 5 rays; dorsal fin VII   + I, 8;  length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, 6-7;  pectoral fin 17-19 rays; pelvic fins I, 5,  completely separate, no membrane between 5th rays, no front frenum between spines, rays 1-2 unbranched, rays 3-4 unbranched or slightly branched at tips, tips of branches joining in flattened fleshy pads, 5th ray unbranched, 1/5-1/4 length of 4th ray, fins long, 4th ray extends to 4th or 5th ray of anal fin;  tail fin round; scales: rough scales from beneath pectoral fin to base of tail fin & under origin of dorsal fin, 26-34 lateral rows; nape before dorsal with 0-10 scales, may extend ½ way to eye; base of tail fin with 2 large, rough scales; no lateral line.

Head and body translucent white; head with 3-4 narrow yellow cross-bars with wide interspaces, 1 crossing eye and down to lower jaw, the last two crossing the edge of the preopercle and opercle; iris bright gold; body with 2 vertical yellow bars (with superimposed dark pigment on lower halves), from top profile to well below flank midline, 1 under 1st dorsal, the other under rear ½ of second dorsal, an elongate yellow blotch just below flank midline, under origin of 2nd dorsal, that may have dark pigment superimposed; back with 5-6 short, bright yellow saddles; 1st dorsal fin translucent white, rear edge bright white, outer edge tinted with yellow, irregular rows of black spots on rays; 2nd dorsal translucent white, with 3-4 diagonal rows of black and yellow spots, outer margin bright white; tail fin translucent, a long, thick yellow bar suffused with dark pigment at base, 2-3 less distinct yellow bars in center, rear edge white & grey, lower 1/3 of fin yellow; anal fin rays yellow, membrane yellow at base, black on outer part; pectoral fin with yellow upper base, rays yellow; pelvic rays yellow.

Reaches at least 5.5 cm

Sandy rock, and sand & rubble bottoms

Depth range 152-293 m

The Bahamas to the southern Caribbean