Family Gobiidae

Gobies

Selected Characters: Pelvic fins usually united as a sucking disc; eyes near top of head, close together; usually small and often brightly colored.

This is a huge family of some 1,875 species which live in saltwater, brackish water and freshwater, mostly in the tropics and subtropics. There are more marine species in the Gobiidae than in any other fish family. This family includes the world's smallest vertebrate, 8-mm-long Trimmatom nanus; it also includes fishes such as the mudskippers that can "walk" on land. Some gobies exhibit parental care, and some show sequential hermaphroditism (an individual goes through both a male phase and a female phase during its life). There are only three species of goby in Puget Sound. They are all less than 12 cm long and live on the bottom. This family is fairly common in Puget Sound.

Puget Sound Species

Clevelandia ios Arrow Goby

Coryphopterus nicholsii Blackeye Goby

Lepidogobius lepidus Bay Goby