Elacatinus horsti

Elacatinus horsti, the yellowline goby, is a species of goby native to the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Elacatinus horsti
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiiformes
Family: Gobiidae
Genus: Elacatinus
Species:
E. horsti
Binomial name
Elacatinus horsti
(Metzelaar, 1922)
Synonyms
  • Gobiosoma horsti Metzelaar, 1922

Description

The yellowline goby grows to be 5 cm (2.0 in) in length. It has a rounded snout and a long, slim body. The upper parts are black and the underside is grey, gradually paling to white. Some fish have a bright, yellow stripes running along each side from the eye to the tail, with often a yellow spot or short line on the snout. In juvenile fish, this stripe is shorter and extends just beyond the base of the pectoral fin. Young Elacatinus chancei is very similar in appearance, but in that species, the yellow line hardly reaches the pectoral fin. In another form of the fish, the stripe is white, paling to a bluish-grey colour beyond the pectoral fin. The dorsal fin is in two parts, and has seven spines and 11 to 12 soft rays. The pectoral fin then has 18 rays and the anal fin has a single spine and 10 soft rays.[2][3]

Distribution

The yellowline goby is found on the Gulf Coast of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas, Curaçao, and Panama. It is found on reefs at depths between 7 and 27 m (23 and 89 ft).[2]

Biology

The yellowline goby is always found living in association with a tubular sponge such as Verongia aerophoba or a massive sponge such as Neofibularia nolitangere and feeding on the parasitic worms Haplosyllis spongicola that live in large numbers on these sponges.[4] It also eats other invertebrates that live on the seabed and plankton.[5]

Name

The specific name honours the Dutch biologist Cornelius van der Horst (1889-1951), who collected the type while staying on Curacao in 1920.[6]

References
  1. Pezold, F.; van Tassell, J.; Tornabene, L.; Aiken, K.A. & Bouchereau, J.-L. (2015). "Elacatinus horsti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T185975A1797498. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T185975A1797498.en.
  2. "Elacatinus horsti (Metzelaar, 1922)". FishBase. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  3. "Elacatinus horsti Metzelaar 1922". Gobioid Research Institute. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  4. Colin, Patrick L. (1978). Marine Invertebrates and Plants of the Living Reef. T.F.H. Publications. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-86622-875-6.
  5. "Elacatinus horsti". Saltcorner. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  6. Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (29 May 2018). "Order GOBIIFORMES: Family GOBIIDAE (d-h)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
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