Species: Lythrypnus species 3, L3 Goby

Lythrypnus species 3

L3 Goby

Body compressed, a little deep; head profile round; head without pores; papillae around mouth, on cheeks and operculum and over eye; front nostril a long tube, rear nostril a raised rim; mouth very oblique; gill opening narrow, ~pectoral base; 5-7 gill rakers; gill membranes with 5 rays; dorsal fin VI (1st elongated, reaching to center of 2nd dorsal); + I, 8; length of 2nd dorsal base > distance from 2nd dorsal base to tail fin; anal fin I, ~7-8; pectoral rays unbranched; pelvic fins I, 5, fused into disc; tail fin short, round, with 17 segmented rays; scales rough, body scaled except for chest and pectoral base, ~25-30 rows on body, none on head and nape; no lateral line.

Ground color of head and body pale grey; head with 2 thin red-brown stripes from eye along each side of snout, & 4 red-brown bars: 2 between eyes, continuing vertically down cheek below eyes, 2 broader bars across head and down sides of head behind eyes; body with 8 long (profile to profile), broad red-brown bars separated by narrow pale grey interspaces, the last 2 bars in the form of an H: 1st at level of pectoral base, 2nd & 3rd under 1st dorsal fin, 4th between dorsals, 5th and 6th under soft dorsal, 7th and 8th on tail base; base of pectoral covered by a large black blotch; 1st dorsal fin with 2 red stripes along lower part, red spots along front spines of outer part; 2nd dorsal fin with 4 red stripes, the outer 2 broken into a series of spots; tail fin with irregular vertical rows of orange-red spots; anal fin red, with outer 1/3 white; pelvics white to white with a red base

Reaches 2.1 cm

Lives on reefs

Depth range 6.4 m

Panama to Venezuela