Eleotridae is a family of fish commonly known as sleeper gobies, with about 34 genera and 180 species. Most species are found in the tropical Indo-Pacific region, but there are also species in subtropical and temperate regions, warmer parts of the Americas and near the Atlantic coast in Africa. While many eleotrids pass through a planktonic stage in the sea and some spend their entire lives in the sea; as adults, the majority live in freshwater streams and brackish water. One of its genera, Caecieleotris, is troglobitic. They are especially important as predators in the freshwater stream ecosystems on oceanic islands such as New Zealand and Hawaii that otherwise lack the predatory fish families typical of nearby continents, such as catfish. Anatomically, they are similar to the gobies (Gobiidae), though unlike the majority of gobies, they do not have a pelvic sucker.
Eviota is a genus of fish in the family Gobiidae, commonly as dwarfgobies found in the Indo-Pacific region, where it is distributed from Japan to Australia and from Africa to Pitcairn Island. Species are mainly associated with coral reefs. Many of these fish are short-lived, with life cycles as brief as 3.5 weeks in the tropics. Some species are hermaphrodites and some representatives live symbiotically among the tentacles of the mushroom coral.
The Gobiiformes are an order of fish that includes the gobies and their relatives. The order, which was previously considered a suborder of Perciformes, is made up of about 2,211 species that are divided between seven families. Phylogenetic relationships of the Gobiiformes have been elucidated using molecular data. Gobiiforms are primarily small species that live in marine water, but roughly 10% of these species inhabit fresh water. This order is composed chiefly of benthic or burrowing species; like many other benthic fishes, most gobiiforms do not have a gas bladder or any other means of controlling their buoyancy in water, so they must spend most of their time on or near the bottom. Gobiiformes means "goby-like".
True gobies were a subfamily, the Gobiinae, of the goby family Gobiidae, although the 5th edition of the Fishes of the World does not subdivide the Gobiidae into subfamilies. They are found in all oceans and a few rivers and lakes, but most live in warm waters. Altogether, the Gobiinae unite about 1149 described species in 160 genera, and new ones are still being discovered in numbers.
Didogobius is a genus of small marine fish in the family Gobiidae, the true gobies. They are native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The name of the genus is a compound noun made up of Dido, the mythical founder and first queen of Carthage, and the Latin gobius meaning "goby".
Elacatinus evelynae, commonly known as the sharknose goby, Caribbean cleaner goby, or Caribbean cleaning goby, is a species of goby native to the Western Atlantic Ocean from the Bahamas and the Lesser Antilles to the northern coast of South America, as well as the Antilles and western Caribbean.
Elacatinus horsti, the yellowline goby, is a species of goby native to the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Antilligobius is a genus of goby. It contains only the species Antilligobius nikkiae, the sabre goby, which is native to deep waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. The specific name honours Nicole Laura Schrier, the daughter of the owner of the Sea Aquarium in Curaçao, who collected many of the type specimens.
Chriolepis is a genus of gobies native to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas.
Ginsburgellus novemlineatus, the Nineline goby, is a species of goby native to tropical reefs of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is frequently found associated with the sea urchin Echinometra lucunter, living underneath the urchin. This species grows to a length of 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) TL. This species can also be found in the aquarium trade. This species is the only known member of its genus, the name of which honours the ichthyologist Isaac Ginsburg (1886-1975) of the U.S. National Museum who had an interest in gobies.
Gobiosoma is a genus of gobies native to fresh, brackish and marine waters of the Americas.
The orangespotted goby is a species of goby native to the tropical Atlantic coast from Bermuda and southern Florida through the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico south to the Caribbean coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, where it prefers silty bottoms around reefs. It is a commensal with an alpheid shrimp. This species grows to a length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in) TL. This species is the only known member of its genus.
Palatogobius is a genus of gobies native to the western Atlantic Ocean.
Robinsichthys arrowsmithensis is a species of goby found on the Arrowsmith Bank in the Caribbean Sea at depths of from 92 to 596 metres. This species grows to a length of 2.3 centimetres (0.91 in) SL. This species is the only known member of its genus. The name of this genus honours C. Richard Robins (1928-2020), an American ichthyologist who was an important contributor to the study of gobies of the Americas.
Lipogramma is a genus of fish in the family Grammatidae native to the western Atlantic Ocean.
The toadfish goby is a species of bony fish in the family Gobiidae which is found in areas of sandy substrates among coral reefs. It occurs in the western Atlantic Ocean from the Bahamas south through the Caribbean Sea as well as along the Central and South American coast from Belize to Santa Marta, Colombia. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Cryptopsilotris, although it was formerly classified under Psilotris and its generic name means "hidden Pilotris", meaning that it was hidden within that genus.
The whiteband goby is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Gobiidae. It has only been recorded from two sites, the Eleuthera Islands in the Bahamas and Carrie Bow Cay in Belize.
Pinnichthys is a genus of ray-finned fish from the family Gobiidae. They are found in the western Atlantic and the eastern Pacific, the genus was named in 2016. Three species previously classified in the genus Chriolepis have been included in Pinnichthys.
Evermannichthys bicolor is a perciform species of fish in the family Gobiidae. As their name suggests, fishes in this species live inside sponges and can be found in the Caribbean Sea. The size of their populations are unknown, meaning it is not currently clear whether the bicolored sponge goby is in need of conservation.
The promethean goby is a mesophotic species of reef goby native to the Caribbean Sea, more specifically Half Moon Bay, Roatan, which is its type locality. The first specimen of the species was a female collected among a small group of algae of the genus Halimeda.
