TRIMMA CAESIURA - (JORDAN & SEALE, 1906)
Picture courtesy of: Alain Daoulas
Actinopterygii (Gigaclass) > Actinopteri (Class) > Teleostei (Subclass) > Gobiiformes (Order) > Gobioidei (Suborder) > Gobiidae (Family) > Gobiinae (Subfamily) > Trimma (Genus)
Gobie pygmée verdâtre, Caesiura goby, Caesiura pygmygoby, Caesiura dwarfgoby, Caesiura pygmy goby, Benihaze, ベニハゼ, 紅磨塘鱧, 点背磨鰕虎,
Synonyme
Trimma caesuira (Jordan & Seale, 1906)
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Description
Dorsal spines (total): 6-7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7-8; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 8-9; Head: 3.10 in length; Depth: 4.50; Eye: 3.18 in head; Scales: 25 from posterior margin of opercles; Snout: 5 in head; Interorbital less than pupil. Body elongate, compressed; Anterior profile rounded, the lower jaw slightly the longer, the angle under anterior margin of eye; Several rows of small, sharp teeth in each jaw; Opercles and preopercles entire; Depth of caudal peduncle: 2.50 in head; Origin of dorsal fin above base of pectorals, its longest spine: 1.75 in head, slightly greater than length of fin; Base of soft dorsal about equal to its longest ray: 2.50 in head; Base of anal: 1.75 in head, scarcely equal to its longest ray; The origin of anal much nearer base of caudal than tip of snout; Pectoral scarcely equal to head; Ventral: 1.10 in head; caudal rounded: 1.50 in head. Frontal ridge behind the orbits slopes steeply into a wide interorbital trench anteromedially, and into postorbital trenches laterally; Posterior nasal opening separate from anterior margin of eye; Elongate first dorsal spines absent; Fifth pelvic fin ray branched once dichotomously. Max length: 3.5 cm SL. Depth range: 20 - 70 m.
Color
Trimma: from Greek, trimma, -atos = something crushed.
caesiura: from Latin, caesius = bluish-gray + from Latin, oura = tail. Referring to gray spot on back of caudal fin.
Original description: Trimma caesiura Jordan & Seale, 1906 - Type locality: Apia, Upolu Island, Samoa.
Distribution
Western Pacific: Palau and Papua New Guinea east to Marshall Islands, Samoa and Niue, north to Japan, south to Great Barrier Reef (Queensland, Australia), New Caledonia and Fiji.
Biology
Inhabits clear lagoon and seaward reefs. Within crevices and caves of mostly dead coral rock and sandy rubble bottom. Solitary.
Actinopterygii (Gigaclass) > Actinopteri (Class) > Teleostei (Subclass) > Gobiiformes (Order) > Gobioidei (Suborder) > Gobiidae (Family) > Gobiinae (Subfamily) > Trimma (Genus)
Gobie pygmée verdâtre, Caesiura goby, Caesiura pygmygoby, Caesiura dwarfgoby, Caesiura pygmy goby, Benihaze, ベニハゼ, 紅磨塘鱧, 点背磨鰕虎,
Synonyme
Trimma caesuira (Jordan & Seale, 1906)
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Description
Dorsal spines (total): 6-7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7-8; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 8-9; Head: 3.10 in length; Depth: 4.50; Eye: 3.18 in head; Scales: 25 from posterior margin of opercles; Snout: 5 in head; Interorbital less than pupil. Body elongate, compressed; Anterior profile rounded, the lower jaw slightly the longer, the angle under anterior margin of eye; Several rows of small, sharp teeth in each jaw; Opercles and preopercles entire; Depth of caudal peduncle: 2.50 in head; Origin of dorsal fin above base of pectorals, its longest spine: 1.75 in head, slightly greater than length of fin; Base of soft dorsal about equal to its longest ray: 2.50 in head; Base of anal: 1.75 in head, scarcely equal to its longest ray; The origin of anal much nearer base of caudal than tip of snout; Pectoral scarcely equal to head; Ventral: 1.10 in head; caudal rounded: 1.50 in head. Frontal ridge behind the orbits slopes steeply into a wide interorbital trench anteromedially, and into postorbital trenches laterally; Posterior nasal opening separate from anterior margin of eye; Elongate first dorsal spines absent; Fifth pelvic fin ray branched once dichotomously. Max length: 3.5 cm SL. Depth range: 20 - 70 m.
Color
A red-brown to brick-red fish with silvery lines and spots. Upper half of body with a mixture of red and brown chromatophores and melanophores; Scales below midlateral line with pockets strongly outlined with red and brown chromatophores and melanophores, and centres light; A zig-zag silvery-white line irregularly margined with melanophores beginning behind posterodorsal margin of eye and continuing to fifth dorsal-spine base, crossing midline at points just behind eye, at mid-nape, just anterior to origin of spinous dorsal fin and at base of fifth dorsal spine; Silvery-white, pupilsized spots with irregular black margins centred on bases of spine of second dorsal fin and seventh dorsal-fin ray; A similar, but medial, spot half way along peduncle and another at bases of upper caudal-fin rays. A smaller white caudal spot as a ventral counterpart to upper one. Cheek and snout with red to reddish-brown chromatophores, mixed with melanophores. Some specimens with a short white bar on cheek below pupil, and second, slightly oblique such bar may be present from posterior margin of orbit. Iris red. Elongate spots may be present on bases of dorsal fin elements, and the second dorsal fin may have rows of similar or more rounded spots more distally in fin. Body coloration continues onto the bases of the more medial caudal fin rays, and a diffuse yellow to orange-red crescent may be present both above and below this just distal to bases of upper and lower caudal fin rays. An oval, silvery spot, a little less than pupil-diameter in width, on dorsal base of pectoral fin, often with another smaller white spot on ventral base of same fin. Body of live specimens translucent, but with same color pattern.
EtymologyTrimma: from Greek, trimma, -atos = something crushed.
caesiura: from Latin, caesius = bluish-gray + from Latin, oura = tail. Referring to gray spot on back of caudal fin.
Original description: Trimma caesiura Jordan & Seale, 1906 - Type locality: Apia, Upolu Island, Samoa.
Distribution
Western Pacific: Palau and Papua New Guinea east to Marshall Islands, Samoa and Niue, north to Japan, south to Great Barrier Reef (Queensland, Australia), New Caledonia and Fiji.
Biology
Inhabits clear lagoon and seaward reefs. Within crevices and caves of mostly dead coral rock and sandy rubble bottom. Solitary.
Similar species
Trimma meristum (Winterbottom & Hoese, 2015) - Reported from Western Pacific: Great Barrier Reef (Queensland, Australia), Milne Bay and Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea) east to Fiji.
Trimma lantana (Winterbottom & Villa, 2003) - Reported from New Caledonia.
Trimma naudei (Smith, 1957) - Reported from Indo-West Pacific: Comoros and Madagascar east to Philippines, north to Ryukyu Islands.
Trimma winterbottomi (Randall & Downing, 1994) - Reported from Northern Indian Ocean: Socotra, Oman and Persian Gulf east to western Thailand.