Tiger goby

Pseudogobiopsis tigrellus (Synonyms: Gobius tigrellus ) is a species of the subfamily of Zwerggrundeln within the family of gobies. It occurs in West New Guinea.

Features

Pseudogobiopsis tigrellus reached a standard length 21.0 to 25.5 mm. There are two dorsal fins, each with 10 fin rays, 6-7 anal-fin rays, two pectoral fins with 14 to 16 fin rays and 17 segmented caudal fin rays. The head and body are transparent pearl gray with 12 to 14 narrow, black, vertical stripes on the body sides and at the rear side of the head. The back is short black lines and spots. The front back section has irregular black spots and lines. The body sides are characterized by orange and pink - gold colored speckles, which are most pronounced between the vertical strips. There are two oblique black lines running through the lower rim of the eyes across the cheeks to the sides of the head. The operculum shows a vertical black band at the back and the front two black spots. The area between the eyes and the mouth has irregular black lines and spots. The iris is silver. The lip tips are dull yellowish with dark spots. The dorsal fins are transparent yellowish- white with black spots. In the males, the dorsal fins have 5-6 irregular lines and black in females four irregular lines with a wide black hem and a dense double black spot on the posterior margin. The caudal fin is transparent with 8 to 10 vertical black lines. The caudal fin rays are yellowish. The anal fin is whitish - yellow. The ventral fin and the pectoral fins are transparent.

Distribution and habitat

Pseudogobiopsis tigrellus is endemic in the river system of the Mamberamo River in West New Guinea. The species inhabits small, clear, relatively fast flowing rainforest streams. The fish were always observed by the main flow away along the edges of small pools in 10 cm depth. They usually hold off on singly or in loose groups of two to four animals in the sand or on rock.

Status and systematics

The IUCN classified the species in the category of " insufficient data " ( data deficient ). She was long known only from the type specimens from ten in 1939, before it was rediscovered in 2000. In 2009, a classification of the genus Gobius was carried out in the genus Pseudogobiopsis.