COMMENTS
v. 17.0 – 3 Dec. 2024 view/download PDF
Family OXUDERCIDAE Mudskipper Gobies (Acanthogobius through Oxyurichthys)
Taxonomic note: includes taxa previously placed in the gobiid subfamilies Amblyopinae, Gobionellinae and Sicydiinae.
Acanthogobius Gill 1859 acanthus, spine, allusion not explained, probably referring to 8-9 spines on first dorsal fin of A. flavimanus; gobius, goby
Acanthogobius elongatus Fang 1942 referring to its more elongate body compared to congeners (then placed in Aboma) in China and Japan [A. elongata (Ni & Wu 1985) from Nanhui, Shanghai, China, is a junior primary homonym treated as valid by some authors but needs to be renamed]
Acanthogobius flavimanus (Temminck & Schlegel 1845) flavus, yellow; manus, hand, referring to its yellow ventral fins
Acanthogobius hasta (Temminck & Schlegel 1845) spear or dart, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its very elongate, tapered body and lanceolate caudal fin
Acanthogobius insularis Shibukawa & Taki 1996 of islands, referring to its only being known from island habitats
Acanthogobius lactipes (Hilgendorf 1879) lacteus, milky; pes, foot, referring to milky white stripe in middle of fused ventral fins
Acanthogobius luridus Ni & Wu 1985 pale yellow, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to body coloration and/or orange-brown tail
Acanthogobius stigmothonus (Richardson 1845) etymology not explained, presumably stigma, mark or spot, and –onus, an adjectival suffix, referring to any or all of the following: series of six “very irregular” marks on middle of sides, “some freckling” on back, round black mark at caudal-fin base, “velvet-black” mark on upper half of first dorsal fin, 5-6 rows of dark specks on second dorsal fin
Akihito Watson, Keith & Marquet 2007 in honor of Emperor Akihito of Japan (b. 1933), for his many contributions to goby systematics and phylogenetic research
Akihito futuna Keith, Marquet & Watson 2008 named for the Pacific island of Futuna, where it appears to be endemic
Akihito vanuatu Watson, Keith & Marquet 2007 named for the island nation of Vanuatu, only known area of occurrence
Amblychaeturichthys Bleeker 1874 amblys, blunt, presumably referring to blunt head and snout of type species, A. hexanema, previously placed in the closely related Chaeturichthys
Amblychaeturichthys hexanema (Bleeker 1853) hexa-, six; nema, thread, referring to three pairs of slender barbels on lower jaw
Amblychaeturichthys sciistius (Jordan & Snyder 1901) scio-, shadow; istius, sail, referring to conspicuous black spot on first dorsal fin
Amblyotrypauchen Hora 1924 etymology not explained, perhaps referring to how this genus is related to and/or combines characters of two groups of gobioid fishes recognized at the time, Amblyopina and Trypaucheninae
Amblyotrypauchen arctocephalus (Alcock 1890) arctatus, pressed or compressed; cephalus, head, presumably referring to angular head, “its opercular region somewhat inflated, its vertex compressed into a sharp carina”
Apocryptes Valenciennes 1837 concealed or obscure, referring to their fossorial habits, burrowing in the mud of ponds and rivers
Apocryptes bato (Hamilton 1822) from bhato, local Gangetic name for this goby in Luckipore, India (per Hamilton’s notes as published by Hora in 1934)
Apocryptodon Bleeker 1874 odon, tooth, presumably referring to prominent teeth of type species, A. madurensis, previously placed in the closely related Apocryptes
Apocryptodon madurensis (Bleeker 1849) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Madura Straits near Surabaya and Bangcallang, Java, Indonesia, type locality
Apocryptodon punctatus Tomiyama 1934 spotted, referring to small round dark spot on scales of head and upper body and/or five vertical oblong dark spots on sides of body
Apocryptodon wirzi Koumans 1937 in honor of “Dr. Wirz,” who collected type, probably Swiss anthropologist Paul Wirz (1892-1955)
Astrabe Jordan & Snyder 1901 Greek for saddle, referring to white saddle-like markings on A. lactisella
Astrabe fasciata Akihito & Meguro 1988 banded, referring to white bands on body
Astrabe flavimaculata Akihito & Meguro 1988 flavus, yellow; maculata, spotted, referring to yellow blotches on body and fins
Astrabe lactisella Jordan & Snyder 1901 lactis, milk; sella, saddle, referring to white saddle-like bands, one passing over pack part and anterior region of body, and another narrower, shorter band between the dorsal fins
Awaouichthys Chatterjee & Mishra 2013 Awaous, referring to its close similarities with that genus; ichthys, fish
Awaouichthys menoni Chatterjee & Mishra 2013 in honor of the late Ambat Gopalan Kutty Menon (1921-2002), “eminent” ichthyologist of the Zoological Survey of India, who confirmed the status of the specimens
Awaous Valenciennes 1837 latinization of awao or awaou, local name of A. ocellaris in Tahiti
Subgenus Awaous
Awaous acritosus Watson 1994 confused, referring to its misidentification for more than 125 years
Awaous aeneofuscus (Peters 1852) aeneus, bronze; fuscus, dark or dusky, referring to coloration, bronzy on sides, olive-brown above
Awaous bustamantei (Greeff 1882) in honor of Brazilian slave trader Gabriel de Bustamenté, who collected type, and the “hospitable and intelligent” (translation) owner of the farm situated on São Tomé Island, Gulf of Guinea, type locality [in 1884, Greeff renamed smaller specimens originally identified as this goby as a separate species, Sicydium bustamantei]
Awaous commersoni (Schneider 1801) in honor of French naturalist Philibert Commerçon (also spelled Commerson, 1727-1773), replacement name for Gobius niger Lacepède 1800 (based on Commerçon’s manuscript description, “Gobius totus niger …”), preoccupied by G. niger Linnaeus 1758 (Gobiidae)
Awaous grammepomus (Bleeker 1849) gramme, line; pomus, operculum, presumably referring to two oblique blackish streaks from eye to maxilla
Awaous guamensis (Valenciennes 1837) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Guam, Mariana Islands, type locality (but occurs widely in western and central Pacific)
Awaous gutum (Hamilton 1822) from Gutum baliya, its local name (per Hamilton’s notes as published by Hora in 1934) along the lower Padma River (now in Bangladesh)
Awaous jayakari (Boulenger 1888) in honor of Atmaram Sadashiva Grandin Jayakar (1844-1911), surgeon, Indian Medical Service, and collector of natural history, who presented type to the British Museum (Natural History)
Awaous litturatus (Steindachner 1861) branded or marked with letters, presumably referring to head and upper sides irregularly marked with spots and lines
Awaous macrorhynchus (Bleeker 1867) macro-, large; rhynchus, snout, referring to wide and elongate snout
Awaous melanocephalus (Bleeker 1849) melano-, black; cephalus, head, referring to dusky head and/or black snout
Awaous motla Seth, Roy, Sura, Puvala, Mishra & Mohapatra 2023 local name for this goby at Mahanadi River, near Sonepur, Subarnapur District, Odisha, India, type locality
Awaous ocellaris (Broussonet 1782) having an eye-like spot, referring to black spot on first dorsal fin
Awaous personatus (Bleeker 1849) masked, referring to black stripes and spots on cheeks
Awaous stamineus (Eydoux & Souleyet 1850) thready, referring to thread-like rays that extend beyond membrane of first dorsal fin
Awaous transandeanus (Günther 1861) trans-, over; andeanus, belonging to the Andes, referring to its distribution west of the Andes in freshwater and brackish streams along the Pacific Slope from Mexico to Peru
Subgenus Chonophorus Poey 1860 chonos, funnel; phoros, to carry, probably referring to how pelvic fins are fused to form an adhesive funnel-shaped hole, a goby characteristic that Poey used to distinguish this taxon from eleotrids
Awaous banana (Valenciennes 1837) latinization of banane, its local name in the Dominican Republic
Awaous lateristriga (Duméril 1861) lateris; side; striga, streak, referring to 8-9 parallel whitish streaks on sides, obliquely directed from top to bottom and front to back
Awaous tajasica (Lichtenstein 1822) from taiasica, presumably a Portuguese or local Brazilian name first reported in Marcgrave’s Historiae naturalis brasiliae (1648)
Subgenus Euctenogobius Gill 1859 eu-, well or very; cteno-, referring to ctenoid (rather than cycloid) scales extending along back to within a short distance of eyes; gobius, goby
Awaous flavus (Valenciennes 1837) yellow, referring to yellowish body coloration
Biendongella Prokofiev 2015 –ella, a diminutive, named after Bien Dong, Vietnamese name of South China Sea, where both species occur
Biendongella hemilissa Prokofiev 2015 hemi-, half; lissos, naked, referring to partial absence of scales on precaudal part of body
Biendongella iljini Prokofiev 2015 in honor of Russian ichthyologist Boris Sergeevich Iljin (1889-1958), author of “classic works” (translation) on systematics of gobies from Azov Black Sea and Caspian Sea basins
Boleophthalmus Valenciennes 1837 bole, throw; ophthalmus, eye, referring to their ability to rapidly raise their eyes above the level of their orbital cavities, as if the eyes were being ejected
Boleophthalmus birdsongi Murdy 1989 in honor of Ray S. Birdsong (1935-1995), for his contributions towards a better understanding of gobioid osteology and systematics
Boleophthalmus boddarti (Pallas 1770) in honor of Dutch physician-naturalist Pieter Boddaert (1730-1796), who confirmed Pallas’ belief that this species, which he first saw in the museum of pharmacist L. Juliaans, represented an undescribed species
Boleophthalmus caeruleomaculatus McCulloch & Waite 1918 caeruleus, blue; maculatus, spotted, presumably referring to bluish center of each scale
Boleophthalmus dussumieri Valenciennes 1837 in honor of Jean-Jacques Dussumier (1792-1883), French voyager and merchant, who collected type in Bombay and provided notes and observations on other gobies
Boleophthalmus pectinirostris (Linnaeus 1758) pectinata, comb-toothed; rostrum, snout, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to incised teeth of mandible
Boleophthalmus poti Polgar, Jaafar & Konstantinidis 2013 local name for this mudskipper among the indigenous people of the Wapi villages of Purutu Island, Papua New Guinea (type locality), meaning “spotted,” referring to numerous tiny whitish spots on head
Brachyamblyopus Bleeker 1874 brachys, presumably referring to short (in depth) body of B. brachysoma, previously placed in the closely related Amblyopus (=Taenioides)
Brachyamblyopus brachysoma (Bleeker 1854) brachys, short; soma, body, presumably referring to short body depth, 9-9½ times in its length
Brachyamblyopus burmanicus Hora 1926 Burmese, referring to type locality at Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar)
Brachygobius Bleeker 1874 brachy, referring to short, oblong body of type species, B. doriae; gobius, possibly used here to reflect Bleeker’s classification of this taxon in a phalanx he called Gobiini
Brachygobius aggregatus Herre 1940 crowded together, referring to its habit of forming schools (unusual in gobies) of 100-150+ individuals
Brachygobius doriae (Günther 1868) in honor of zoologist Giacoma Doria (1840-1913), president of the Italian Geographic Society, who collected fishes in Borneo and sent them to the British Museum (Natural History), including type of this one [although named after a man, some classically trained zoologists latinized the names of individuals whose names ended with the letter “a” by adding an “e” to the spelling]
Brachygobius kabiliensis Inger 1958 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Kabili River, Sandakan District, northern Borneo, type locality
Brachygobius mekongensis Larson & Vidthayanon 2000 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Mekong River system, where it occurs in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
Brachygobius nunus (Hamilton 1822) latinization of Nuni from Nuni bele, one of its local names in India (per Hamilton’s notes as published by Hora in 1934)
Brachygobius sabanus Inger 1958 –anus, belonging to: Sabah, local name for North Borneo, where it is endemic
Brachygobius xanthomelas Herre 1937 xanthos, yellow; melas, black, referring to clear yellow body with 5-6 black crossbands
Brachygobius xanthozona (Bleeker 1849) xanthos, yellow; zona, band, referring to yellow spaces between four black crossbands
Buenia Iljin 1930 –ia, belonging to: Iljin’s “eminent colleague” (translation) in the study of gobies, Spanish ichthyologist and oceanographer Fernando de Buen y Lozano (1895-1962)
Buenia affinis Iljin 1930 related, originally referring to Gobius affinis Kolombatović 1891, which Iljin misidentified when he established it as type species of Buenia; furthermore, G. affinis is preoccupied by G. affinis Eichwald 1831, but no one has established a new type species nor a replacement name, so Buenia affinis is retained until name and authorship are clarified
Buenia jeffreysii (Günther 1867) in honor of British conchologist and malacologist John Gwyn Jeffreys (1809-1885), who collected type while dredging for invertebrates
Buenia lombartei Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen 2018 in honor of fisheries biologist Antoni Lombarte, Institut de Ciències del Mar-CSIC (Barcelona), who collected the first specimen (paratype) among trawl debris despite its small size
Buenia massutii Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen 2017 in honor of marine biologist Enric Massutí, Instituto Español de Oceanografía in the Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, for his dedication to the study of benthic habitats in the circalittoral bottoms of the Balearic Islands
Caecogobius Berti & Ercolini 1991 caecus, blind, i.e., a blind (eyeless) gobius, goby, with no external trace of eyes
Caecogobius cryptophthalmus Berti & Ercolini 1991 cryptos, concealed or hidden; opthalmus, eye, referring to its “very reduced [and] deeply embedded” eye
Caecogobius personatus Larson & Husana 2018 masked, referring to fleshy area covering the orbits, masking where the eyes should be
Caragobius Smith & Seale 1906 cara-, head, presumably referring to “large, oblong, quadrilateral” head of C. typhlops (=urolepis); gobius, goby
Caragobius rubristriatus (Saville-Kent 1889) rubrus, red; striatus, striped, referring to a “longitudinal carmine streak, indicating the contour of the lateral line”
Caragobius urolepis (Bleeker 1852) oura, tail; lepis, scales, referring to scaleless body except for posterior third (i.e., caudal peduncle)
Chaenogobius Gill 1859 chaeno-, gape, referring to large mouth of C. annularis; gobius, goby
Chaenogobius annularis Gill 1859 having rings, i.e., ocelli, referring to several ocellate spots near vent
Chaenogobius gulosus (Sauvage 1882) greedy or gluttonous, referring to its large, gaping mouth
Chaeturichthys Richardson 1844 chaeto-, bristle and oura, tail, referring to short marginal rays of caudal fin of C. stigmatias
Chaeturichthys jeoni Shibukawa & Iwata 2013 in honor of Sang-Rin Jeon, Sang Myung University (Seoul), who “very kindly” assisted the authors’ research of Korean fishes and gave them the opportunity to examine many specimens, including type of this species
Chaeturichthys stigmatias Richardson 1844 branded, allusion not explained, possibly referring to large black spot on posterior border of first dorsal fin
Chlamydogobius Whitley 1930 chlamydos, cloak, allusion not explained, perhaps used as a verb (hide) instead of a noun (garment), referring to isolated desert-spring habitat of C. eremius (D. Hoese, pers. comm.); gobius, goby
Chlamydogobius eremius (Zietz 1896) solitary or lonely, referring to its desert-spring habitat
Chlamydogobius gloveri Larson 1995 in honor of the late John Glover (1935-1992), former Curator of Fishes, South Australian Museum, for his considerable work on desert gobies and other arid-zone fishes of Australia; he was convinced this goby was distinct from C. eremius but never got around to describing it (note: three species from Dalhousie Springs are named after Glover: this goby, the catfish Neosilurus gloveri, and the silverside Craterocephalus gloveri)
Chlamydogobius japalpa Larson 1995 Western Arnada name for part of the Finke River (Northern Territory, Australia) that extends through what is now called Helen Gorge; the main waterhole in this gorge is just downstream from Ormiston Cree, type locality
Chlamydogobius micropterus Larson 1995 micro-, small; pterus, fin, referring to reduced (in size and number of rays) first dorsal fin compared to congeners
Chlamydogobius ranunculus Larson 1995 tadpole, a “resemblance to which this rather frog-headed goby displayed to the author upon their first encounter, at the edge of a drying-up water buffalo wallow”
Chlamydogobius squamigenus Larson 1995 squama, scale; gena, cheek, referring to cycloid scales on preopercular region (absent from congeners)
Clariger Jordan & Snyder 1901 clarus, clear; –iger, to bear, referring to white back of C. cosmurus
Clariger chionomaculatus Shiogaki 1988 chion, snow; maculatus, spotted, referring to white patches on back
Clariger cosmurus Jordan & Snyder 1901 kosmeo, to adorn; oura, tailed, referring to white, fan-shaped pattern on caudal fin
Clariger exilis Snyder 1911 slim or slender, referring to slenderer body compared to C. cosmurus
Clariger papillosus Ebina 1935 papillose, referring to five well-developed fleshy papillous barbels below eye
Clariger sirahamaensis Sakamoto 1932 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Sirahama, Bôsyû Province, Japan, type locality
Clariger taiwanensis Jang-Liaw, Gong & Chen 2012 –ensis, suffix denoting place: coastal rocky shores of northern Taiwan, where it likely is endemic
Clevelandia Eigenmann & Eigenmann 1888 –ia, belonging to: attorney Daniel Cleveland (1838-1929), founding partner and president, San Diego Society of Natural History, who has “done much towards making known the fauna and flora of Southern California”
Clevelandia ios (Jordan & Gilbert 1882) arrow, referring to its long and slender body
Cotylopus Guichenot 1863 cotyla, cup or cavity; pous, feet, referring to fifth rays of each ventral fin joined together to form a cup-like disc
Cotylopus acutipinnis Guichenot 1863 acutus, pointed; pinnis, fin, referring to pointed extremities of its dorsal and anal fins
Cotylopus rubripinnis Keith, Hoareau & Bosc 2005 ruber, red; pinnis, fin, referring to reddish membrane of its dorsal, caudal and pectoral fins
Crystallogobius Gill 1863 crystallus, crystal, referring to its translucency; gobius, goby
Crystallogobius linearis (Düben 1845) linear, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its sublinear (i.e., nearly straight as a line) body shape
Ctenogobius Gill 1858 cteno, comb, referring to its “pectinated” scales; gobius, goby
Ctenogobius apogonus Pezold 2022 apógonos, Greek for offspring or progeny, recognizing Pezold’s children, Nicole Pezold Hancock, Blaise Pezold and Michael Pezold, for their “support, patience and sometimes assistance throughout my career from its start in graduate school to finish”
Ctenogobius boleosoma (Jordan & Gilbert 1882) bole, dart; soma, body, but here referring to its “remarkable resemblance” to the North American percid Etheostoma (Boleosoma) olmstedi
Ctenogobius claytonii (Meek 1902) in honor of Powell Clayton (1833-1914), U.S. Minister (ambassador) to Mexico, for “many courtesies” during Meek’s field work in that country in 1901 and 1903 (per Meek 1904)
Ctenogobius fasciatus Gill 1858 banded, presumably referring to five “zigzag linear bands of black” on caudal fin
Ctenogobius lepturus (Pfaff 1933) leptos, thin; oura, tailed, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to pointed caudal fin, as long as head, or to combination of slender body and pointed caudal fin
Ctenogobius manglicola (Jordan & Starks 1895) –cola, inhabitant of: mangle, referring to roots of mangrove bushes, Rhizophora mangle, where type specimen was found
Ctenogobius phenacus (Pezold & Lasala S. 1987) cheat or imposter, referring to how this species, originally described in the genus Gobionellus, is easily mistaken for darter gobies (the genus in which it now resides)
Ctenogobius pseudofasciatus (Gilbert & Randall 1971) pseudo-, false, i.e., although this goby may resemble the closely related C. fasciatus, such an appearance is false
Ctenogobius saepepallens (Gilbert & Randall 1968) saepe, often or frequently; pallens, pallid, referring to its “usually” pallid appearance
Ctenogobius sagittula (Günther 1862) diminutive of sagitta, arrow, probably referring to its slender, tapering body with elongate caudal fin
Ctenogobius shufeldti (Jordan & Eigenmann 1887) in honor of American surgeon-zoologist (and later outspoken white supremacist) Robert Wilson Shufeldt (1850-1934), who collected type
Ctenogobius smaragdus (Valenciennes 1837) emerald, based on emeralda, one if its local names in Cuba, perhaps referring to its greenish-brown body and fins
Ctenogobius stigmaticus (Poey 1860) marked, presumably referring to four black vertical bands, three on cheek and one on operculum
Ctenogobius stigmaturus (Goode & Bean 1882) stigma, spot; oura, tailed, referring to round black spot at base of caudal fin
Ctenogobius thoropsis (Pezold & Gilbert 1987) thoros, the “male seed”; opsis, resembling, referring to sperm-like appearance of body when viewed from above (broad head and narrow, attenuated body with a long, trailing caudal fin)
Ctenotrypauchen Steindachner 1867 cteno, comb, presumably referring to high, comb-like keel, or sharp ridge, along median line of back part of head; Trypauchen, similar to that genus
Ctenotrypauchen chinensis Steindachner 1867 –ensis, suffix denoting place: China, type locality (also occurs in Philippines, Sumatra and the Arafura Sea)
Deltentosteus Gill 1863 delta, shaped like the Greek letter ∆; entos, within; osteus, bone, referring to triangular shape of lower pharyngeal bones of D. quadrimaculatus
Deltentosteus collonianus (Risso 1820) –anus, belonging to: etymology not explained; according to Valenciennes (1837), in honor of M. [Monsieur] Coulon of Neufchâtel, Switzerland, “an enlightened amateur of natural history” (translation), probably Paul-Louis-Auguste Coulon (1777-1855), a business and civic leader (note: Risso provided a different spelling, colonianus, in 1827)
Deltentosteus quadrimaculatus (Valenciennes 1837) quadri-, four; maculatus, spotted, referring to four round spots distributed at equal distances along the sides
Economidichthys Bianco, Bullock, Miller & Roubal 1987 in honor of Panos Economidis, for his contributions to Greek ichthyology
Economidichthys pygmaeus (Holly 1929) dwarf, at up to 35 mm TL, one of the smallest members of Gobius (original genus) known at the time
Economidichthys trichonis Economidis & Miller 1990 named for Lake Trichonis and its streams, Greece, where it is endemic
Eucyclogobius Gill 1862 eu-, well or very; cyclo-, circle, referring to its all-cycloid scales (many gobies also have ctenoid scales); gobius, goby
Eucyclogobius kristinae Swift, Spies, Ellingson & Jacobs 2016 in honor of Kristina D. Y. Louie (1974-2004), whose untimely death from encephalitis cut short a promising career dedicated to conservation genetics; her Ph.D. dissertation and associated work contributed to the authors’ studies of eastern Pacific phylogeography, as well as to a novel re-interpretation of the placement of Wallace’s Line across the islands of Indonesia
Eucyclogobius newberryi (Girard 1856) in honor of John Strong Newberry (1822-1892), American geologist, physician and explorer, who collected fishes for Girard (but not this one)
Eugnathogobius Smith 1931 eu-, well or very and gnathus, jaw, referring to “enormous” mouth of E. microps, its maxillary more than 2/3 length of head; gobius, goby
Eugnathogobius illota (Larson 1999) unwashed or dirty, referring to blotchy dark brown lines and mottling on snout and cheeks, giving it the appearance of having an unwashed, smudged face
Eugnathogobius indicus Larson 2009 Indian, referring to the Indian Ocean, where it is endemic
Eugnathogobius kabilia (Herre 1940) –ia, belonging to: Kabili River, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, type locality (also occurs in Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka)
Eugnathogobius mas (Hora 1923) etymology not explained, perhaps a local word or name at Chilika Lake, Odisha, India, type locality [previously known as E. microps, now a junior synonym]
Eugnathogobius mindora (Herre 1945) named for Mindoro, Philippines, type locality (but occurs throughout the western Pacific, including Fiji, Australia and Thailand)
Eugnathogobius siamensis (Fowler 1934) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Bangkok, Siam (Thailand), type locality (but occurs from China south to Indonesia)
Eugnathogobius stictos Larson 2009 spotted or dappled, referring to fine black spots on body
Eugnathogobius umbra (Herre 1827) shade or shadow, referring to dark-brown color in alcohol
Eugnathogobius variegatus (Peters 1868) variable or variegated, presumably referring to yellowish-brown body “irregularly spotted with black” (translation)
Eutaeniichthys Jordan & Snyder 1901 Eutaenia (=Thamnopsis), garter snake genus (eu-, well; taenia, ribbon), presumably referring to its “very long and slender” body; ichthys, fish
Eutaeniichthys gilli Jordan & Snyder 1901 in honor of Smithsonian zoologist Theodore Gill (1837-1914), for his studies of Japanese gobies
Evermannia Jordan 1895 –ia, belonging to: Jordan’s former student and later scientific associate, Barton Warren Evermann (1853-1932), United States Fish Commission, for his work on the fishes of the Gulf of California
Evermannia erici Bussing 1983 in honor of Eric A. Bussing, the author’s son, “who first called attention to these inconspicuous fishes and captured several by hand to convince me they were not really the young of other goby species stranded by the outgoing tide”
Evermannia longipinnis (Steindachner 1879) longus, long; pinnis, fin, referring to filamentous first dorsal-fin spine of males
Evermannia panamensis Gilbert & Starks 1904 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Panama Bay, Panama, type locality (also occurs in Costa Rica)
Evermannia zosterura (Jordan & Gilbert 1882) zosteros, belt or girdle; oura, tailed, referring to two distinct black bands on caudal fin
Evorthodus Gill 1859 eu-, well; orthos, straight; don, tooth, allusion not explained, possibly referring to nearly horizontal teeth on lower jaw of E. breviceps (=lyricus)
Evorthodus lyricus (Girard 1858) pertaining to a lyre, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to filiform middle rays of first dorsal fin
Evorthodus minutus Meek & Hildebrand 1928 small, type specimens ranging in length from 27-30 mm
Gillichthys Cooper 1864 in honor of Smithsonian zoologist Theodore Gill (1837-1914), “author of various learned treatises on fishes”; ichthys, fish
Gillichthys detrusus Gilbert & Scofield 1898 expelled, dispossessed or dislodged, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to type locality, near mouth of (i.e., expelled from) Colorado River, Mexico
Gillichthys mirabilis Cooper 1864 remarkable, a “remarkable” fish, with a “strange” upper maxillary (prolonged backward to the base of the pectorals, its posterior part a cartilaginous expansion, connected to an expansion of the skin of the lower jaw, thus forming a channel running back from the mouth entirely free from the side of head), “nothing analogous being known in other fishes”
Gillichthys seta (Ginsburg 1938) bristle, allusion not explained nor evident
Gnatholepis Bleeker 1874 gnathos, jaw; lepis, scale, allusion not explained, presumably referring to scales on head and cheek of G. anjerensis
Gnatholepis anjerensis (Bleeker 1851) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Anjer (also spelled Anyer and Angier), a coastal town in Banten (formerly West Java, Indonesia), type locality (specimen now lost)
Gnatholepis argus Larson & Buckle 2005 Argus, mythical hundred-eyed guardian of Io, whose eyes after death where transformed into the feathers of a peacock, referring to eye-like blue-spotted pattern along sides of males
Gnatholepis caudimaculata Larson & Buckle 2012 cauda-, tail; maculatus, spotted, referring to distinctive vertical oval blackish-to-dark-gray blotch across caudal-fin base
Gnatholepis cauerensis cauerensis (Bleeker 1853) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Cauer, a village on the southwestern coast of Sumatra (now Bengkulu, Indonesia), type locality
Gnatholepis cauerensis australis Randall & Greenfield 2001 southern, referring to the southern location of the islands in southeast Oceania where it occurs
Gnatholepis cauerensis hawaiiensis Randall & Greenfield 2001 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Hawaiian Islands, proposed as a Hawaiian subspecies of G. cauerensis
Gnatholepis gymnocara Randall & Greenfield 2001 gymnos, bare or naked; kara, head, referring to absence of scales on cheek and opercle
Gnatholepis knighti Jordan & Evermann 1903 in honor of Jordan’s son, Knight Starr Jordan (1888-1947), who first noticed this goby in a pond at Moana Hotel at Waikiki Beach, near Honolulu, Hawai‘i
Gnatholepis ophthalmotaenia (Bleeker 1854) ophthalmos, eye; taenia, band, referring to black to very dark brown line from above middle of iris running obliquely back over top of eye
Gnatholepis pascuensis Randall & Greenfield 2001 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Isla de Pascua, Spanish name of Easter Island, where it is endemic
Gnatholepis thompsoni Jordan 1904 in honor of Joseph Cheesman Thompson (1874-1943), U.S. Navy medical officer (neurosurgeon), amateur zoologist-archaeologist, co-founder of the Zoological Society of San Diego, psychoanalyst, and Burmese cat breeder, who collected type
Gnatholepis yoshinoi Suzuki & Randall 2009 in honor of Tetsuo Yoshino, University of the Ryukyus, for his “extensive” taxonomic research on the fishes of Japan
Gobioides Lacepède 1800 –oides, having the form of: Gobius, referring to previous placement of Gobius (now Taenioides) anguillaris in that genus
Gobioides africanus (Giltay 1935) –anus, belonging to: Africa, being what Giltay believed was an African relative of the eastern Pacific Tyntlastes (now Akko) brevis (Gobiidae)
Gobioides broussonnetii Lacepède 1800 in honor of physician-naturalist Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet (1761-1807), for his contributions to natural history, particularly his studies of the flora and fauna of Morocco [Lacepède apparently misspelled Broussonet’s name, with an extra “n”; since this spelling is in prevailing usage, emendment is not recommended]
Gobioides grahamae Palmer & Wheeler 1955 in honor of botanist Violet Graham (ca.1911-1991), who presented a large number of British Guiana fishes to the British Museum (Natural History), including type of this one, along with extensive field notes and color sketches of most of the fishes collected
Gobioides peruanus (Steindachner 1880) Peruvian, described from specimens collected off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru
Gobioides sagitta (Günther 1862) arrow, referring to its compressed, elongate body shape
Gobionellus Girard 1858 diminutive of Gobius, probably referring to previous placement of its originally included species in that genus (and not referring to their size since these gobies are relatively large, 96-215 mm SL)
Gobionellus daguae (Eigenmann 1918) of Dagua, referring to mouth of Río Dagua, Colombia, type locality
Gobionellus hastatus Girard 1858 spear-shaped, presumably referring to elongate body with elongate and pointed caudal fin
Gobionellus liolepis (Meek & Hildebrand 1928) leios, smooth; lepis, scale, referring to its cycloid scales, compared to ctenoid scales of Euctenogobius panamensis (=G. daguae)
Gobionellus microdon (Gilbert 1892) micro-, small; odon, tooth, referring to its “minute teeth, scarcely visible without the use of a lens”
Gobionellus occidentalis (Boulenger 1909) western, referring to distribution in West Africa, compared to East African and Indian distribution of presumed congeners in Oxyurichthys
Gobionellus oceanicus (Pallas 1770) –icus, belonging to: the ocean, based on nonbinominal name published by Gronovius (1763), type locality unknown, possibly from the western Atlantic
Gobionellus stomatus Starks 1913 mouthed, a “large-mouthed” goby, the maxillary reaching posterior margin of eye in the smallest specimens, and to beyond eye the length of one eye diameter in the largest ones
Gobiopterus Bleeker 1874 Gobius, goby; pterus, allusion not explained, probably referring to type species, G. brachypterus, presumably named for its short second (soft) dorsal and anal fins and/or truncate caudal fin
Gobiopterus birtwistlei (Herre 1935) in honor of William Birtwistle (1890-1953), Officer-in-charge, Fisheries Department, Singapore, type locality (who, per Herre 1940, “greatly” aided Herre’s study of Malayan fishes)
Gobiopterus brachypterus (Bleeker 1855) brachys, short; pterus, fin, presumably referring to short second (soft) dorsal and anal fins and/or truncate caudal fi
Gobiopterus chuno (Hamilton 1822) apparent latinization of Chǎno, its local name near Calcutta, India (per Hamilton’s notes as published by Hora in 1934)
Gobiopterus lacustris (Herre 1927) lacustrine (belonging to a lake), “caught in large quantities in Laguna de Bay near Calamba, Los Banos, Lumbang, Santa Cruz [Philippines], and in fact all around the lake shore during the rainy season”
Gobiopterus macrolepis Cheng 1965 macro-, large; lepis, scale, referring to its “rather large” ctenoid scales, larger than those of G. brachypterus, G. chuno and G. (=Eugnathogobius) variegatus
Gobiopterus mindanensis (Herre 1944) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Mindanao, Philippines, type locality
Gobiopterus panayensis (Herre 1944) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Panay, Philippines, type locality (also occurs in Singapore)
Gobiopterus semivestitus (Munro 1949) semi-, partial; vestitus, clothed, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to less than 20 series of scales, not extending beyond first dorsal fin
Gobiopterus smithi Menon & Talwar 1972 in honor of ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith (1897-1968), who confirmed its identity [species inquirenda, provisionally included here]
Gobiopterus stellatus (Herre 1927) covered with stars, “more or less thickly spattered over sides and dorsally with small black stellate or dendritic spots”
Gymnoamblyopus Murdy & Ferraris 2003 gymnos, bare or naked, referring to absence of scales; Amblyopus, type genus of then-recognized subfamily Amblyopinae
Gymnoamblyopus novaeguineae Murdy & Ferraris 2003 of Papua New Guinea, where it is known only from the Lower Fly River
Gymnogobius Gill 1863 gymnos, bare or naked, referring to absence of scales on G. macrognathos; gobius, goby
Subgenus Gymnogobius
Gymnogobius cylindricus (Tomiyama 1936) referring to cylindrical anterior part of body
Gymnogobius macrognathos (Bleeker 1860) macro-, long; gnathos, jaw, referring to wide cleft of mouth, extending beyond orbit
Gymnogobius scrobiculatus (Takagi 1957) having a small ditch, referring to a “small trench occur[ing] just behind chin, furnished with a pair of rather developed pit-organs in it”
Gymnogobius uchidai (Takagi 1957) in honor of Keitaro Uchida, Kyushu University, who recommended that Takagi study the gobies of Japan based on the sensory (lateral) line system as a taxonomic character
Subgenus Chloea Jordan & Snyder 1901 –ea, belonging to: Chloe Lesley Starks (1866-1952), artist and naturalist, Hopkins Biological Laboratory, Stanford University, who provided many of the illustrations in the authors’ monograph of Japanese gobies [not preoccupied by Chloeia Savigny 1818 in Polychaeta since the spellings differ; Chloeichthys Whitley 1940 is an unneeded replacement name]
Gymnogobius castaneus (O’Shaughnessy 1875) chestnut, referring to light-brown coloration, deeper on the back
Gymnogobius breunigii (Steindachner 1879) in honor of Ferdinand Breunig, professor of natural history, Imperial Gymnasium at Schotten (Vienna), as a token of Steindachner’s “special veneration” (translation)
Gymnogobius heptacanthus (Hilgendorf 1879) hepta, seven; acanthus, spine, referring to seven spines of first dorsal fin (compared to 5-6 spines in most other Japanese gobies that Hilgendorf examined)
Gymnogobius mororanus (Jordan & Snyder 1901) –anus, belonging to: Mororan, Hokkaido, Japan, type locality (also occurs in Korea, Russia and Kuril Islands)
Gymnogobius nakamurae (Jordan & Richardson 1907). in honor of Japanese naturalist and teacher Masao Nakamura, who provided a small collection of fishes, including holotype of this one (possibly a synonym of G. castaneus) [although named after a man, “ae” is an acceptable way to form a genitive from a masculine noun that ends in “a”]
Gymnogobius nigrimembranis (Wu & Wang 1931) nigri-, black; membranis, membrane, referring to bluish-black gill membranes [species inquirenda, provisionally included here; placed in Chaenogobius by some workers]
Gymnogobius taranetzi (Pinchuk 1978) in honor of Anatoly Yakovlevich Taranetz (1910-1941), for his contributions to the study of animals and systematics of fishes from the Russian Far East, where this goby occurs
Subgenus Taranetziola Shedko & Chereshnev 2005 –iola, diminutive connoting endearment: named after Soviet ichthyologist Anatoly Yakovlevich Taranetz (1910-1941), for his contributions to the fishes the Russian Far East, particularly the gobies
Gymnogobius isaza (Tanaka 1916) local name for this goby at Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, type locality
Gymnogobius opperiens Stevenson 2002 Latin for waiting, referring to how this species, although recognized as new for more than 20 years, had long awaited formal description
Gymnogobius petschiliensis (Rendahl 1924) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Petschili (also spelled Beˇizhílì, i.e., North Zhili), a northern province in China until 1928, now in Hebei Province, type locality (also occurs in Russia and Japan)
Gymnogobius urotaenia (Hilgendorf 1879) oura, tail; taenia, band, presumably referring to dark streak along upper and lower edges of caudal peduncle, perhaps a juvenile feature (Hilgendorf described his specimens as “young,” up to 37 mm) that does not appear on adults (Erwin Schraml, pers. comm.)
Gymnogobius transversefasciatus (Wu & Zhou 1990) fasciatus, banded, referring to 10 irregular dark transverse bands on sides
Gymnogobius zhoushanensis Zhao, Wu & Zhong 2007 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Zhoushan Island, Zhejiang Province, China, where it is endemic
Hemigobius Bleeker 1874 hemi-, partial, referring to previous placement of H. melanurus in Gobius and/or reflecting Bleeker’s classification of this taxon in a phalanx he called Gobiini
Hemigobius crassus (Herre 1945) Latin for stout or thick, referring to its “thick, plump” body, only the posterior third being laterally compressed
Hemigobius hoevenii (Bleeker 1851) patronym not identified but almost certinaly in honor of Bleeker’s Dutch colleague, zoologist Jan van der Hoeven (1801-1868), whom he had honored in several other names
Hemigobius melanurus (Bleeker 1849) melano-, black; oura, tailed, described as having a black caudal fin (later accounts and contemporary photos indicate that tail is not black but contains black spots)
Hemigobius mingi (Herre 1936) in honor of Mr. Ming (forename not given), chemist in the Department of Fisheries, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, who was of “much assistance” during Herre’s stay in Singapore
Hyrcanogobius Iljin 1928 named for the Hyrcanian Ocean, ancient name of the Caspian Sea, in whose basin H. bergi occurs; gobius, goby
Hyrcanogobius bergi Iljin 1928 in honor of Soviet ichthyologist Lev (or Leo) Semyonovich Berg (1876-1950), who described several gobies from the Caspian Sea, where this one occurs
Ilogton Endruweit 2024 combination of ilog, Tagalog word for river, and nekton, swimming, referring to occurrence in freshwater and its nektonic (able to swim and move independently of currents) mode of swimming
Ilogton ilogton Endruweit 2024 as for genus
Ilypnus Jordan & Evermann 1896 ilys, mud; hypnos, slumber, referring to occurrence of I. gilberti over mud flats
Ilypnus gilberti (Eigenmann & Eigenmann 1889) in honor of ichthyologist and fisheries biologist Charles H. Gilbert (1859-1928), the Eigenmanns’ colleague at Indiana University
Ilypnus luculentus (Ginsburg 1938) full of light, lighter than any known species of Lepidogobius, genus at time of description
Inu Snyder 1909 a Japanese word meaning dog, referring to its “voracious-looking” appearance
Inu koma Snyder 1909 a Japanese word, from Koma-inu, “name of one of the two ever-present, dog-like images found in the Shinto temple grounds,” referring to its voracious appearance
Karsten Murdy 2002 in honor of Karsten E. Hartel, Curatorial Associate in Ichthyology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, who “greatly assisted” the author’s study as well as others through the years
Karsten totoyensis (Garman 1903) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Totoya, Fiji Islands, type locality
Knipowitschia Iljin 1927 –ia, belonging to: etymology not explained but almost certainly referring to Nikolai Mikhailovich Knipowitsch (1862-1939, often spelled Knipovich in English), Russian oceanographer and zoologist who led several Caspian Sea expeditions (1904-1915)
Knipowitschia byblisia Ahnelt 2011 –ia, belonging to: mythological figure Byblis, twin sister of Caunos, who founded the ancient city Caunos on the southwest Anatolian coast; the ruins of this city are located close to Lake Köycegiz, Turkey, type locality
Knipowitschia caucasica (Berg 1916) –ica, belonging to: Caucasus region of Russia, referring to distribution in Black and Caspian seas (also occurs in Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Azov and Aral Sea)
Knipowitschia caunosi Ahnelt 2011 of Caunos, mythological figure, twin brother of Byblis and founder of the ancient city Caunos; the ruins of this city are located close to Lake Köycegiz, Turkey, type locality
Knipowitschia iljini Berg 1931 in honor of goby taxonomist Boris Sergeevich Iljin (1889-1958), who investigated the gobioid fishes of the Black and Caspian seas (this goby occurs in the latter)
Knipowitschia longecaudata (Kessler 1877) longus, long; caudata, tailed, presumably referring to length of caudal peduncle, 1/5 to 1/4 of total body length
Knipowitschia mermere Ahnelt 1995 named for Lake Marmare (also known as Mermere), western Anatolia, Turkey, type locality
Knipowitschia montenegrina Kovačić & Šanda 2007 –ina, belonging to: Montenegro, type locality (and where it appears to be endemic)
Knipowitschia mrakovcici Miller 2009 in honor of biologist Milorad Mrakovčić, University of Zagreb (Croatia), who provided the original type material
Knipowitschia panizzae (Verga 1841) patronym not identified but almost certainly in honor of Italian anatomist Bartolomeo Panizza (1785-1867), who, among other things, studied post-reproductive mortality in male Sea Lamprey
Knipowitschia radovici Kovačić 2005 in honor of Kovačić’s friend, ornithologist Dragan Radović (1959-2017), who encouraged and helped him to collect samples along rivers and lakes of the Adriatic Sea
Knipowitschia ephesi (Di Caporiacco 1935) in honor of the baron Aloisio Ricasolio, who accompanied Italian biologist Nello Beccari (1883-1957) during Beccari’s 1932 trip to Turkey, during which type was collected
Knipowitschia thessala (Vinciguerra 1921) of Thessaly, Greece, where type locality (Kefalovriso spring, Monte Kissavo, near the village of Chasabali) is situated
Lebetus Winther 1877 etymology not explained, perhaps derived from lebias, Greek for a kind of small fish, referring to small size (up to 4 cm), the smallest goby in the northeast Atlantic
Lebetus guilleti (Le Danois 1913) “This goby’s color invites us to dedicate it to our friend, the excellent artist P. Guillet” (translation), presumably Pierre Guillet (1866-1918)
Lebetus patzneri Schliewen, Kovačić & Ordines 2019 in honor of Robert (“Bobby”) Patzner (b. 1945), University of Salzburg (Austria), for his dedication to the study of gobies in the Mediterranean, including the Balearic Islands (where this one occurs)
Lebetus scorpioides (Collett 1874) –oides, having the form of: allusion not explained nor evident, perhaps referring to the arachnid scorpion, or to scorpaena, Greek for sculpin, referring to its Cottus-like appearance
Lentipes Günther 1861 etymology not explained, possibly lentis, slow or pliant; pous, foot, referring to ventral fins, which are united to form a semicircular disk adherent to the belly
Lentipes adelphizonus Watson & Kottelat 2006 adelphos, brother or twin; zonatus, banded, referring to two broad bars on body
Lentipes andamanicus (Mukerji 1935) –icus, belonging to: Andaman Islands, Eastern Indian Ocean, only known area of occurrence
Lentipes argenteus Keith, Hadiaty & Lord 2014 silvery, referring to distinctive grayish-to-silver body color of males
Lentipes armatus Sakai & Nakamura 1979 armed or armored, referring to its body “armored with forked scales”
Lentipes bunagaya Maeda & Kobayashi 2021 Bunagaya, a creature in Okinawan mythology, thought to live in forests and/or streams and usually described as a child with red hair or whose whole body is red, referring to this goby’s male color morph, with two broad red bands on posterior part of body
Lentipes caroline Lynch, Keith & Pezold 2013 named for both the first author’s daughter and the “beautiful islands of Micronesia for which she was named,” i.e., the Caroline Islands, where it occurs [a noun in apposition without the genitive “ae” or “i”]
Lentipes concolor (Gill 1860) colored uniformly, presumably referring to uniform brown, olive or purplish coloration of females; Gill apparently was not aware that nuptial males are strikingly bicolored (black anteriorly, reddish-orange posteriorly)
Lentipes crittersius Watson & Allen 1999 latinization of the Anglo-Saxon critters, a creature or small animal; a variant spelling, critturs, was used by the late Raymond S. Birdsong (1935-1995) when referring to gobies, his favorite subject
Lentipes dimetrodon Watson & Allen 1999 named for the extinct reptile genus Dimetrodon of the early and middle Permian, referring to erect dorsal fin in males and threatening appearance of false eye on first dorsal fin, making it appear more formidable than it really is
Lentipes ikeae Keith, Hubert, Busson & Hadiaty 2014 in honor of Ike Rachmatika (1982-2010), formerly of the ichthyology lab at Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (Cibinong, Indonesia), for her work and passion for the freshwater fishes of Indonesia
Lentipes kaaea Watson, Keith & Marquet 2002 in honor of Napwé Tribal Chief Kaaea, who kindly permitted collection of freshwater fishes on tribal lands in New Caledonia
Lentipes kijimuna Maeda & Kobayashi 2021 Kijimuna, a creature in Okinawan mythology, regarded as a wood spirit and usually described as a child with red hair or a child whose whole body is red, referring to this goby’s male color morph, with a red head and a broad red band connecting bases of posterior half of red second dorsal and anal fins
Lentipes kolobangara Keith, Lord, Boseto & Ebner 2016 named for Kolobongara Island, Solomon Islands, type locality; Kolobongara means “water king,” which is “suited for this colourful species”
Lentipes mekonggaensis Keith & Hadiaty 2014 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Mekongga Mountains (Sulawesi, Indonesia), type locality
Lentipes mindanaoensis Chen 2004 –ensis, suffix denoting place: eastern Mindanao, Philippines, type locality
Lentipes multiradiatus Allen 2001 multi-, many; radiatus, rayed, referring to higher pectoral-fin ray count (20) compared to congeners known at the time
Lentipes niasensis Harefa & Chen 2022 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Nias Island, Indonesia, type locality
Lentipes palawanirufus Maeda & Palla 2021 Palwan, referring to Palawan Island, Philippines, only known are of occurrence; rufus, red, referring to this goby’s male color morph, with a broad, reddish-brown or dark-red band between bases of reddish brown or dark red second dorsal and anal fins (the “i” in the middle is a connecting vowel)
Lentipes rubrofasciatus Maugé, Marquet & Laboute 1992 rubro-, red; fasciatus, banded, referring to red posterior half of body
Lentipes solomonensis Jenkins, Allen & Boseto 2008 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Solomon Islands, type locality
Lentipes venustus Allen 2004 beautiful, elegant or graceful, referring to “remarkable” coloration of males
Lentipes watsoni Allen 1997 in honor of gobiid researcher Ronald Watson, for his “fine” contributions to our knowledge of the then-recognized subfamily Sicydiinae
Lentipes whittenorum Watson & Kottelat 1994 –orum, commemorative suffix, plural: in honor of wildlife biologists Anthony (Tony, b. 1953) and his wife Jane (b. 1954), who assisted Kottelat during various projects in Indonesia, especially the survey of Bali, where this goby occurs
Lepidogobius Gill 1859 lepido, scale, presumably referring to head and body covered with small cycloid scales; gobius, goby
Lepidogobius lepidus (Girard 1858) elegant, allusion not explained; since it is a replacement name for Girard’s 1854 Gobius gracilis, preoccupied by Gobius gracilis Jenyns 1835 (=Pomatoschistus minutus), with gracilis meaning slender, perhaps referring to its slender, compressed and tapering body
Lethops Hubbs 1926 lethos, to forget; ops, eye, referring to its poorly developed eyes
Lethops connectens Hubbs 1926 connecting, “apparently much more closely related to the well known blind goby of the California reefs, Typhlogobius californiensis, than is any described genus”
Leucopsarion Hilgendorf 1880 leucos, white, referring to translucent color in life, yellowish white in spirits; opsarion, a little fish used as a relish that complements the staple part of a meal (transliteration of its Japanese name Shiri-uwo, white fish)
Leucopsarion petersii Hilgendorf 1880 in honor of Wilhelm C. H. Peters (1815-1883), German naturalist and explorer who submitted Hilgendorf’s description for publication
Lophiogobius Günther 1873 etymology not explained, probably Lophius, similar in appearance (e.g., wide, depressed head) to the Monkfish, Lophius piscatorius (Lophiiformes: Lophiidae); gobius, goby [not to be confused with Lophogobius in Gobiidae]
Lophiogobius ocellicauda Günther 1873 ocellus, eyespot; cauda, tail, referring to black, white-edged ocellus at base of caudal-fin rays
Luciogobius Gill 1859 lucius, pike (Esociformes), referring to “esociform position” of dorsal and anal fins of L. guttatus; gobius, goby
Luciogobius adapel Okiyama 2001 a-, without; dapel, acronym of three fins, dorsal (d), anal (a), pelvic (pel), referring to the absence of these fins
Luciogobius albus Regan 1940 white, referring to its white, unpigmented coloration
Luciogobius ama (Snyder 1909) Japanese name for this goby, from Ama-inu, a “temple image resembling a dog,” referring to its voracious appearance
Luciogobius brevipterus Chen 1932 brevis, short; pterus, fin, referring to shorter pectoral fins compared to L. guttatus
Luciogobius dormitoris Shiogaki & Dotsu 1976 sleepy or sleeping, reflecting its Japanese name Nemuri-mimizuhaze (sleeping worm-like goby), probably referring to its very small, subcutaneous eyes
Luciogobius elongatus Regan 1905 referring to its elongate body, a characteristic of the genus
Luciogobius fluvialis Kanagawa, Itai & Senou 2011 flowing or riverine, referring to its occurrence in the middle reaches of a river
Luciogobius fonticola Kanagawa, Itai & Senou 2011 fontus, fountain or spring; –cola, dweller or inhabitant, referring to its habitat, springwater flowing up through gaps between the pebbles at the bottom of a river
Luciogobius grandis Arai 1970 large, reaching 93.6 mm, the largest species in the genus
Luciogobius griseus Koreeda, Maeda & Motomura 2023 Medieval Latin for gray, referring to gray dorsal body color in living specimens
Luciogobius guttatus Gill 1859 speckled or spotted, referring to brown body “thickly punctured with black” and/or caudal, dorsal and pectoral fins dotted with black
Luciogobius martellii Di Caporiacco 1948 in honor of A. Martelli, a technician at La Specolo, Museum of Zoology and Natural History (Florence, Italy)
Luciogobius opisthoproctus Chen & Liao 2024 opistho-, from ópisthen (Gr. ὄπισθεν), behind; prōktós (Gr. πρωκτός), anus, referring to its posteriorly positioned anus
Luciogobius pallidus Regan 1940 pale or pallid, described as “pale, apparently lightly pigmented”
Luciogobius parvulus (Snyder 1909) diminutive of parvus, small, i.e., very small, described at 37-43 mm
Luciogobius platycephalus Shiogaki & Dotsu 1976 platy, wide; cephalus, head, referring to its broad, depressed head, wider than body
Luciogobius punctilineatus Koreeda & Motomura 2022 punctum, dot; lineatus, lined, referring to single longitudinal dotted line along middle of body
Luciogobius ryukyuensis Chen, Suzuki & Senou 2008 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, type locality
Luciogobius saikaiensis Dôtu 1957 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Saikai or Seikai, Japanese name for northern part of East China Sea, type locality
Luciogobius yubai Ikeda, Tamada & Hirashima 2019 in honor of Takeo Yuba (Tanabe City, Japan), who first found this species in Wakayama Prefecture and collected many specimens
Mistichthys Smith 1902 meistos, most, presumably used in the sense of smallest (most small), believed to be the world’s smallest (13.5) mm vertebrate at the time; ichthys, fish
Mistichthys luzonensis Smith 1902 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Luzon Island, Philippines, type locality
Mugilogobius Smitt 1900 proposed as a subgenus of Gobius, etymology not explained, perhaps Mugil, a genus of mullets, referring to wide and arguably mullet-like head of M. abei (which Smitt named as the type species in a 1903 letter to David Starr Jordan)
Mugilogobius abei (Jordan & Snyder 1901) in honor of Kakichi Abe, of Tokyo, a former student of Jordan’s at Stanford University, who accompanied the authors in their travels throughout southern Japan, to the “great advantage” of their work
Mugilogobius adeia Larson & Kottelat 1992 safety or security, which this goby acquires by concealing itself among stones or in empty gastropod shells, particularly those of Brotia gemmifera
Mugilogobius amadi (Weber 1913) in honor of Javanese surgeon Raden Mas Amad, who helped Dutch mining engineer and geologist Edward C. Abendanon collect fishes and mollusks in Sulawesi, Indonesia (presumably including type of this goby); Amad also sketched fishes and recorded their native names
Mugilogobius arguellesi Roxas & Ablan 1940 in honor of soil chemist Angel S. Arguelles (1888-1952), Director, Philippine Bureau of Science (described from the Philippines)
Mugilogobius cagayanensis (Aurich 1938) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Cagayan Sulu, Philippines, type locality
Mugilogobius cavifrons (Weber 1909) cavus, concave; frons, front or forehead, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “flattened” (translation) body anteriorly
Mugilogobius chulae (Smith 1932) in honor of Luang Chula Cachanagupta, Director of the Department of Fisheries of Siam (described from Thailand)
Mugilogobius fasciatus Larson 2001 banded or striped, referring to black bands encircling body
Mugilogobius filifer Larson 2001 filum, thread or filament; fero, to bear, referring to elongate first dorsal fin in adult males
Mugilogobius flavomaculatus Huang, Chen, Yung & Shao flavus, yellow; maculatum, spotted, referring to 5-7 rounded, bright yellow spots on cheek and operculum
Mugilogobius fuscus (Herre 1940 , referring to blackish-brown color in life, dark-brown in alcohol
Mugilogobius fusculus (Nichols 1951) diminutive of fuscus, dusky, referring to its “more or less dusky or paler” coloration
Mugilogobius hitam Larson, Geiger, Hadiaty & Herder 2014 Bahasa Indonesia word for black, referring to overall blackish color on head, body and fins
Mugilogobius latifrons (Boulenger 1897) latus, wide; frons, front or forehead, presumably referring to its head, “broader than deep”
Mugilogobius lepidotus Larson 2001 scaled, referring to its scaled preoperculum, unique in the genus
Mugilogobius littoralis Larson 2001 of the seashore, referring to its rock-pool habitat
Mugilogobius mertoni (Weber 1911) in honor of German zoologist Hugo Merton (1879-1940), who collected many fishes among the Aru Islands of Indonesia, including type of this one
Mugilogobius myxodermus (Herre 1935) myxa, slime; derma, skin, referring to the “great quantity of slime with which it is covered and which often conceals its colors”
Mugilogobius notospilus (Günther 1877) notos, back; spilos, spot or mark, referring to black spot on posterior part of first dorsal fin
Mugilogobius platynotus (Günther 1861) platy, broad or wide; notos, back, presumably referring to its “broad back”
Mugilogobius platystoma (Günther 1872) platy, broad or wide; stoma, mouth, presumably referring to any or all of the following: “broad” head, “broad rounded” snout, “large” mouth
Mugilogobius rambaiae (Smith 1945) in honor of Her Majesty Rambai Barni (1904-1984), former Queen of Siam; a water-color painting showing several life-size renderings of this goby in its natural habitat was given to her majesty in 1934
Mugilogobius rexi Larson 2001 in honor of Rex Williams, technical officer, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (Darwin, Australia), for his “careful work and commitment” to the museum’s fish collection
Mugilogobius rivulus Larson 2001 rill or small brook, referring to its habitat
Mugilogobius sarasinorum (Boulenger 1897) –orum, commemorative suffix, plural: in honor of Swiss naturalist-ethnologist Paul Sarasin (1856-1929) and his second cousin, naturalist Fritz Sarasin (1859-1942), who collected type
Mugilogobius stigmaticus (De Vis 1884) marked, presumably referring to any or all of the following: median line of dark spots posteriorly, sometimes with blotches beneath base of second dorsal fin; dark curved line on each side of occiput, touching orbit and descending on operculum to join a line descending from lower edge of orbit; a third line from front edge of orbit to maxillary, continuing on preopercle from angle of mouth, sometimes forming a brown patch on cheek; median row of black spots on second dorsal fin
Mugilogobius tigrinus Larson 2001 like a tiger, referring to narrow bands or stripes across body
Mugilogobius villa (Herre 1927) named for Villa, Iloilo Province, Panay, Philippines, type locality [species inquirenda, provisionally included here]
Mugilogobius wilsoni Larson 2001 in honor of David Wilson, Territory Wildlife Park, Berry Springs (Northern Territory, Australia), for his continuing help and enthusiasm in collecting gobies and for promoting the aquarium care and appreciation of native Australian freshwater fishes
Nesogobius Whitley 1929 nesos, island, probably referring to occurrence of N. hinsbyi off Tasmania, an island state of Australia; gobius, goby
Nesogobius greeni Hoese & Larson 2006 in honor of naturalist Robert “Bob” H. Green (1925-2013), formerly of the Queen Victoria Museum (Launceston, Tasmania), who collected much of the material used in the authors’ study
Nesogobius hinsbyi (McCulloch & Ogilby 1919) named but not described by Johnston (1903); according to Whitley (1929), quoting a newspaper clipping found in Johnston’s notebook, in honor of George Hinsby, who contributed many “natural history novelties” to the Tasmanian Museum
Nesogobius maccullochi Hoese & Larson 2006 in honor of Allan Riverstone McCulloch (1885-1925), former Curator of Fishes, Australian Museum, in recognition of his work but also recognizing the fact that McCulloch and Ogilby confused this goby under the name Gobius (now Nesogobius) hinsbyi
Nesogobius pulchellus (Castelnau 1872) diminutive of pulcher, beautiful, allusion not explained, presumably referring to its attractive coloration and small size (6 cm), i.e., a beautiful little goby
Nesogobius tigrinus Hammer, Hoese & Bertozii 2015 tiger-like, referring to four prominent vertical black bars on male
Ninnigobius Whitley 1951 replacement name for Ninnia de Buen 1930 (preoccupied by Ninnia Westerlund 1903 in Mollusca), named for zoologist Alessandro Pericle Ninni (1837-1892), who described N. canestrinii in 1883; gobius, goby
Ninnigobius canestrinii (Ninni 1883) in honor of Ninni’s friend, Italian biologist Giovanni Canestrini (1835-1900), who described the similar-looking Gobius pusillus (=Pomatoschistus knerii) in 1862
Ninnigobius montenegrensis Miller & Šanda 2008 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Montenegro, where type locality (Morača River) is situated (also occurs in Albania)
Odontamblyopus Bleeker 1874 odontos, tooth, presumably referring to multiple rows of teeth on each jaw and/or long, curved canines of O. rubicundus; amblyopus, possibly reflecting Bleeker’s classification of this taxon in a phalanx he called Amblyopodini
Odontamblyopus lacepedii (Temminck & Schlegel 1845) in honor of Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de [count of] La Cepède (also spelled as La Cépède, Lacépède, or Lacepède, 1756-1825), author of the first five volumes of Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, who reportedly published an illustration of a Chinese specimen of this goby under the name “Taenioïde Herrmannien” (a publication we have not been able to locate)
Odontamblyopus rebecca Murdy & Shibukawa 2003 in honor of Rebecca Rootes, Murdy’s “life partner and spouse” [a noun in apposition without the genitive “ae”]
Odontamblyopus roseus (Valenciennes 1837) pink, referring to its primary body color
Odontamblyopus rubicundus (Hamilton 1822) reddish, described as “dirty brown above, and red below”
Odontamblyopus tenuis (Day 1876) thin, referring to its “very compressed” body
Oligolepis Bleeker 1874 oligo-, few; lepis, scale, proposed as a subgenus of Stenogobius with fewer scale rows running along body (tautonymous with O. oligolepis but Gobius melanostigma [=O. acutipennis] is type species)
Oligolepis acutipennis (Valenciennes 1837) acutus, pointed; pennis, fin, referring to extended (filamentous) first five rays of first dorsal fin and lanceolate (tapered to a point) caudal fin
Oligolepis cylindriceps (Hora 1923) cylindri-, cylindrical; ceps, head, referring to its “sub-cylindrical” head
Oligolepis formosanus (Nichols 1958) –anus, belonging to: Formosa (Taiwan), where it is endemic
Oligolepis jaarmani (Weber 1913) in honor of Raden Jaarman Soemintral Zeerban, Javanese physician for the Second South New Guinea Expedition (1909-1910), during which type was collected
Oligolepis nijsseni (Menon & Govindan 1977) in honor of Han Nijssen (1935-2013), Zoölogisch Museum, Amsterdam, for his “valuable help” is allowing the authors to examine the type of O. jaarmani
Oligolepis oligolepis (Bleeker 1854) oligo-, few; lepis, scale, referring to larger (and therefore fewer) scales
Oligolepis stomias (Smith 1941) Greek for a large-mouthed animal, referring to its large, oblique mouth, the maxillary extending to posterior edge of preopercle
Orsinigobius Gandolfi, Marconato & Torricelli 1986 in honor of friend and colleague Primo Orsini, whose career in ichthyology was cut short by an accident at sea; gobius, goby
Orsinigobius croaticus (Mrakovčić, Kerovec, Misetic & Schneider 1996) Croatian, referring to type locality in Dalmatia, Croatia (also occurs in Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Orsinigobius punctatissimus (Canestrini 1864) very spotted, referring to numerous brown dots scattered throughout the body
Oxuderces Eydoux & Souleyet 1850 latinization of the Greek oxyderkes, sharp sighted, referring to prominent, protruding eyes with membranous eyelids
Oxuderces dentatus Eydoux & Souleyet 1850 toothed, referring to large canine teeth of upper jaw
Oxuderces nexipinnis (Cantor 1849) nexilis, tied together; pinnis, fin, referring to its united dorsal fins
Oxyurichthys Bleeker 1857 oxy, sharp and oura, tail, presumably referring to lanceolate caudal fin of O. belosso (=papuensus); ichthys, fish
Subgenus Oxyurichthys
Oxyurichthys auchenolepis Bleeker 1876 auchenos, nape or neck; lepis, scale, referring to scales on low median crest of nape
Oxyurichthys chinensis Pezold & Larson 2015 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Hainan Island, China, type locality
Oxyurichthys cornutus McCulloch & Waite 1918 horned, presumably referring to stout tentacle above each eye
Oxyurichthys heisei Pezold 1998 Japanese for “peace succeeds” or “realized peace,” the name of the era of Emporer Akihito (b. 1933), for his many contributions to gobioid systematics and members of the Laboratory of Ichthyology, Akasaka Imperial Palace, working under his direction
Oxyurichthys limophilus Pezold & Larson 2015 limus, silt; philus, lover of, referring to its habitat, mud substrates in a protected harbor
Oxyurichthys lonchotus (Jenkins 1903) furnished with a point, presumably referring to its “long and pointed” caudal fin
Oxyurichthys longicauda (Steindachner 1893) longus, long; cauda, tail, referring to long and pointed caudal fin
Oxyurichthys microlepis (Bleeker 1849) micro-, small; lepis, scale, referring to its small scales, 50 along lateral line
Oxyurichthys notonema (Weber 1909) notos, back; nema, thread, referring to elongate and filamentous first 4-5 spines in first dorsal fin of both sexes
Oxyurichthys nuchalis (Barnard 1927) nuchal, referring to its “abruptly descending” profile
Oxyurichthys omanensis Zarei, Al Jufaili & Esmaeili 2022 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Muscat Area, northern Oman, type locality
Oxyurichthys ophthalmonema (Bleeker 1856) opthalmos, eye; nema, thread, referring to slender, pointed tentacle on posterior half of eye, an outgrowth of the sclerotic coat, just above the margin
Oxyurichthys papuensis (Valenciennes 1837) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Papua New Guinea, type locality
Oxyurichthys paulae Pezold 1998 in honor of Paula Arledge Pezold, the author’s “academic companion and spouse”
Oxyurichthys petersii (Klunzinger 1871) in honor of Wilhelm C. H. Peters (1815-1883), naturalist, explorer and curator, Berlin Zoological Museum, for the “extremely liberal way” (translation) he allowed Klunzinger to use the Museum’s collection
Oxyurichthys rapa Pezold & Larson 2015 named for Haurei Bay, Rapa, French Polynesia, only known area of occurrence
Oxyurichthys stigmalophius (Mead & Böhlke 1958) stigma, mark or spot; lophius, crested, presumably referring to jet-black blotch at posterior end of first dorsal fin
Oxyurichthys takagi Pezold 1998 in honor of Kazunori Takagi, Tokyo University of Fisheries, whose studies of gobioid oculoscapular canals revealed their significance to gobioid systematics [presumably a noun in apposition, without the genitive “i”]
Oxyurichthys tentacularis (Valenciennes 1837) tentacled, referring to slender, pointed tentacle on posterior half of eye, an outgrowth of the sclerotic coat, just above the margin
Oxyurichthys zeta Pezold & Larson 2015 zeta, last letter of Roman alphabet, the last species in the authors’ revision of the genus but “unlikely to be the last species described for this genus”
Subgenus Ctenoxylepis Pezold & Larson 2015 derived from Ctenogobius, Oxyurichthys and Oligolepis, recognizing the phylogenetic link between these genera suggested by O. keiensis
Oxyurichthys keiensis (Smith 1938) –ensis, suffix denoting place: mouth of the Great Kei River, South Africa, type locality