Loach gobies

Loach gobies
Rhyacichthys aspro
Systematics
Sub-cohort : Neoteleostei Acanthomorphata Spinefish (Acanthopterygii) Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) Order : Gobies (Gobiiformes) Family : Loach gobies
Scientific name
Rhyacichthyidae
Jordan , 1923

The loach gobies (Rhyacichthyidae) are a three-species family of goby-like fish found in freshwater in Indonesia , the Philippines , New Guinea , the Solomon Islands , Taiwan , some Japanese islands, and New Caledonia .

features

Loach gobies are eight to 25 centimeters long. They have a broad, flattened head with a lower mouth that has a fleshy upper lip. The eyes are small. The two clearly separated dorsal fins are supported by a total of eight to nine hard and eight to nine soft rays. The anal fin has a fin spine and eight to nine soft rays, the broad pectoral fins 21 to 22 fin rays . The pelvic fins are wide apart. The lateral line organ on the head and trunk is well developed.

Loach gobies, like the unrelated fin suckers (Balitoridae), can achieve a sucking effect with the pelvic fins, the flat underside of the head and the belly side, in order to hold onto stones in fast-flowing streams.

Systematics

Within the goby-like (Gobiiformes) the loach gobies together with the tooth-sleeper gobies (Odontobutidae) are the basal sister group of all other families.

Genera and species

• Protogobius Watson & Pöllabauer, 1998
  • Protogobius attiti Watson & Pöllabauer, 1998
• Rhyacichthys Boulenger, 1901
  • Rhyacichthys aspro (Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1837)
  • Rhyacichthys guilberti Dingerkus & Séret, 1992

literature

• Joseph S. Nelson , Fishes of the World , John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .

1. ↑ Christine E. Thacker: Phylogeny of Gobioidei and Placement within Acanthomorpha, with a New Classification and Investigation of Diversification and Character Evolution. Copeia 2009 (1): 93-104. 2009 doi : 10.1643 / CI-08-004

Web links

• Loach gobies on Fishbase.org (English)