Hemigobius hoevenii (Bleeker, 1851)

Sreeraj, Chemmencheri Ramakrishnan, Sen, Arya & Raghunathan, Chelladurai, 2024, Report of two euryhaline goby fishes (Family: Gobiidae) from Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 124 (3), pp. 265-272 : 267-269

Hemigobius hoevenii (Bleeker, 1851)

1851. Gobius hoevenii Bleeker [P.] Vijfde bijdrage tot de kennis der ichthyologische fauna van Borneo, met beschrijving van eenige nieuwe soorten van zoetwatervisschen. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië, 2 (3): 415-442 (Sambas, western Borneo, Indonesia).

1993. H(emigobius hoevenii (Bleeker 1851) Kottelat, M., A. J. Whitten, S. N. Kartikasari and S. Wirjoatmodjo Freshwater fishes of Western Indonesia and Sulawesi. Periplus Editions, Hong Kong. i-xxxviii + 1-259, Pls. 1-84

Common Name : Banded mulletgoby

Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 26 April 2020

Economic Importance: Commercially not important ( India)

Material examined: India: Andhra Pradesh, Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary , (16°52’55.39”N; 82°14’54.50”E), 4 exs., 11.XII.2020, Coll: Sreeraj C. R., (Reg. No ZSI/SbRC/ KN 3134) .

Diagnostic Characters: First dorsal spine 6; Second dorsal spine 1; Second dorsal soft rays 7; Anal spine 1; Anal soft rays 7; Pectoral Soft rays 16; Ventral Spine 1; Ventral soft rays 5; Caudal soft rays 17 (Segmented); Longitudinal scales 28; Transverse scales 08; Pre-dorsal scales 8. Muscular body with a rounded anterior profile and somewhat compressed at posterior. Head little depressed after eyes but maintains a round profile overall. Eyes large and placed dorsolateral at the upper part. The interorbital area is flat. The snout is rounded and the upper lip is extended over the lower. Mouth terminal. The anterior nostril is a tube-like structure. The nape is with a convex ridge. The gill opening is narrow and extends beyond the lower pectoral base. Pre-dorsal scales are larger than normal. Body scales ctenoid. The operculum is covered with cycloid scales and the cheek below the eye is naked. The first dorsal fin is low and rounded, spines shorter than the second dorsal. Caudal fin with rounded edge.

The base body colouration of the live specimen is light grey to transparent. A total of 6 oblique black bands appear over the body and in some specimens, bands appear as patches of pigments. Six bands are prominent and rest three are almost merged with body colouration.

The third band of the body is extended to the first caudal and appears as a pigmented patch on the transparent membrane between 2 spine to the last spine. The ninth band starts from the caudal fin base and extends over the caudal fin. Bands appear darker in the middle of the body. The second dorsal is pigmented in three rows and the margin is transparent. The upper part of the head is mostly pigmented. Lips appear transparent. Round back circular spots are present below the eye. Red gill colouration is visible over the operculum. Pectoral fin rays are pigmented with transparent adjoining membranes

( Figure 2 ). Detailed morphometric measurements of these specimens are given in Table 1.

Habitat: Underground channels connecting small mangrove pools created inland at the time of low tide. Mostly avoid the pools and stay in underground channels that are unseen from the outside. The specimen was collected using a hand and a small aquarium net and it was hidden until the water inside the channel had been stirred; Brackish Water (Salinity: 9-15 ppt, Water temperature: 27.7°C – 39.1°C, Mud Temperature – 22.9°C – 26.2°C, pH: 8.1 – 8.3) ( Figure 3 ).

Distribution: India - Andaman and Nicobar Islands ( Rajan et al., 2013), West Bengal ( Mishra et al., 2019), Andhra Pradesh ( Mishra et al., 2019), Tamil Nadu (Sreeraj & Sen, 2022). Elsewhere - West Pacific, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Borneo, New Guinea and northern Australia ( Froese & Pauly, 2019), Indonesia ( Bleeker, 1850).

Comments: H. hoevenii can be readily identified from related species by the presence of six distinct diagonal bars along its sides and the first dorsal fin with two broad dark bands. Because of its colouration, the specimen was very much camouflaged in its environment and as far as the results all the specimens have been captured from two different interconnecting channels and it can be said that this species does have an affinity towards this underground channel and collecting them from this

Sreeraj et al. is quite tough. No juvenile specimens were found and unless the waters inside those channels are stirred, these won’t be noticed. Can survive outside water for more than five minutes.

Figures

Figure 2. Live Specimen picture of Hemigobius hoevenii (Bleeker, 1851).

Figure 3. Collection habitat of Hemigobius hoevenii (Bleeker, 1851) & Mugilogobius tigrinus Larson, 2001 in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary.