Actinopterygii (Gigaclass) > Actinopteri (Class) > Teleostei (Subclass) > Gobiiformes (Order) > Gobioidei (Suborder) > Gobiidae (Family) > Gobiinae (Subfamily) > Amblyeleotris (Genus)

Gobie à belle queue, Beautiful tail shrimpgoby,

Description
Dorsal spines (total): 6-7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 13; Vertebrae: 25; Pectoral fin rays: 19; Pelvic fins joined by a short membrane at base, with no frenum; Fifth pelvic ray branched three times; Longitudinal scale series: 89; No median predorsal scales and no prepectoral scales; Gill opening extending forward to below posterior margin of preopercle. Body depth: 5.35 in SL; Head length: 3.55 in SL; Mouth not very large, the maxilla reaching to below centre of eye, the upper-jaw length: 2.65 in HL; Caudal fin slightly pointed and moderately long: 2.9 in SL; Fourth pelvic ray longest. Max. length: 5.0 cm SL (female). Depth range: 3 - 25 m.

Color
Pale yellow dorsally, shading to white ventrally, densely marked with small pale blue spots; Four red bars on body, the first slightly oblique beneath first dorsal fin, the next two broader ventrally, below second dorsal fin, and the fourth posteriorly on caudal peduncle and on caudal fin base; Head brownish yellow dorsally, white ventrally, with numerous small pale blue spots and a red bar from nape across posterior opercle; An irregular yellow-edged blue line extending ventrally from opercular membrane to branchiostegal membranes; First dorsal fin grey, shading to greyish blue posteriorly, with dark-edged yellow markings; Second dorsal fin grey with a dark-edged yellow line parallel to rays on each membrane, the base yellow with dark-edged blue markings; Anal fin yellow with irregular dark-edged blue markings and a broad median blackish red band; Caudal fin with a large, irregular, elliptical, blue-edged mark enclosing a dusky orange area; Upper and lower edges of fin pale yellow with blue spots.

Etymology
Amblyeleotris: from Greek, amblys or amblus = dull (blade: not sharp), blunt, obtuse + from the Greek name of a fish, eleōtris, found in the swampy waters of the Nile (Egypt) (from the Greek, eleios = who lives in the marshes). The name Eleotris appears for the first time in Déipnosophistes, a compilation of anecdotes and quotations from ancient authors, written by a scholar and grammarian Greek, Athenaeus of Naucratis (about 170-223 AD). In 1763, the Dutch naturalist and collector Laurentius Theodorus Gronovius (1730-1777) used this name to designate a new genus of fish. The authorship of the genre escapes him because his work was rejected by the scientific community of the time. The genre should have returned to the doctor, entomologist and naturalist of Italian culture, Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1723-1788) but the late recognition of his work made him lose the authorship of the name. Today the genus, Eleotris, is attributed to Bloch & Schneider, 1801.

bellicauda: from Latin, bellus = beautiful + from Latin, cauda = tail. Named for the striking color pattern of the caudal fin, also featuring a large elliptical mark.
Original description: Amblyeleotris bellicauda Randall, 2004 - Type locality: outside barrier reef off Tenia Island, 22°01'01"S, 165°55'05"E, New Caledonia, depth 3 meters.

Distribution
Western Central Pacific: New Caledonia (Outside barrier reef off Tenia Island and Sournois reef).

Biology
Found over coarse sand and lives symbiotically in a burrow with an alpheid shrimp.

Similar species
Amblyeleotris aurora (Polunin & Lubbock, 1977) - Reported from Red Sea; Indo-West Pacific: KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), East Africa (Mozambique), Aldabra and Amirante Islands (Seychelles), Comoros and western Mascarenes (La Réunion), east to Andaman Sea (Andaman Islands, Myanmar and Thailand) and northwestern Sumatra (Indonesia); New Guinea.

Amblyeleotris steinitzi (Klausewitz, 1974) - Reported from New Caledonia - Link to the species (here).

Last update: 12, August 2024