Woods' Barbelgoby

Sensory pores nasal, posterior interorbital, anterior temporal, and posterior temporal present, the supraotic pore almost always present, 2 preopercular pores; 2-5 posterior mandibular barbels present; anterior cheek tuft barbels modally 5; postmandibular and posterior gular barbels absent; scales strongly ctenoid, large, 30-36 in horizontal series; males with 2-5 enlarged canine teeth medially on inner row of upper jaw; jaw moderate in length, about 13-18% of SL; dark head wedge not evident; light base of pectoral fin divided or nearly so by dark wedge; coloration mottled, saddles not prominent (Ref. 11637).

Dorsal spines (total): 6 - 7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10 - 11; Analspines: 1; Analsoft rays: 8 - 9; Vertebrae: 26

Inhabitant of sand-rubble bottom near dead and live coral reef (Ref. 90102).

Gobiopsis woodsi

DIAGNOSIS.—Sensory pores NA, PITO, AT, and PT present, the SOT pore almost always present, 2 POP pores; 2–5 posterior mandibular barbels present; anterior cheek tuft barbels modally 5; postmandibular and posterior gular barbels absent; scales strongly ctenoid, large, 30–36 in horizontal series; males with 2–5 enlarged canine teeth medially on inner row of upper jaw; jaw moderate in length, about 13–18 percent of SL; dark head wedge not evident; light base of pectoral fin divided or nearly so by dark wedge; coloration mottled, saddles not prominent.

DESCRIPTION.—Dorsal fin rays V–I, 10(2) the associated pterygiophore is present where the spine is absent, VI–I, 10(53), VI–I, 11(1); anal fin rays I,8 (1) with external element absent from third anal pterygiophore, I,9(55); pectoral fin rays 18(1), 20(3), 21(50), 22(38); pelvic fin rays I,5(34); segmented caudal fin rays 16(1), 17(44); branched caudal fin rays 14(I), 15(34), 16(8); lateral scale rows 30–36(25); transverse scale rows 15–19(24); predorsal scales 11–15(29).

Scales strongly ctenoid, highly eccentric; 10–16 primary radii in large anterior field; focal area broad; posterior field small but wide, with short radii numbering up to 14; 11–18 ctenii in 1 row on posterior margin.

Vertebrae 10+16(54).

Measurements for the holotype and paratypes are given in Table 7.

A species of moderate size and robustness, the largest male 42.3 mm, the largest female 37.7 mm. Among the species of Gobiopsis, G. woodsi appears to show the greatest difference between sex and size, the males considerably exceeding the females in body length. Head moderately wide, trunk moderately deep; fleshy interorbital width about equal to snout length, slightly greater than diameter of orbit; lower jaw of moderate length (13–18 percent of SL), but jaw length related to body size (Figure 4), lower jaw increases with increase in body length, and apparently is longer in males than females for any size group; origin of second dorsal fin just posterior to vertical at anal opening; depressed pectoral fin just anterior to vertical at anal opening, pectoral fin longer than deep and rounded posteriorly; pelvic fin comparatively long, average length about 72 percent of distance from pelvic fin insertion to anal fin origin (Figure 3).

Number of teeth on outer row of upper jaw about 21, lower jaw 8–10; males with 2–5 enlarged posteriorly recurved canine teeth medially on inner row of upper jaw.

The cephalic sensory pore and canal system contains more pores than any other species of Gobiopsis. The AT and PT pores and canal are present and the SOT pores are almost always present (Tables 1, 2).

The cutaneous papillae system is pattern 4 (Plate 4). The papillae on the head are generally conspicuous, particularly those on the first and fourth cheek rows and on the outer preoperculo-mandibular row.

The following groups of barbels (Table 3) are absent; postmandibular and posterior gular; intermandibular row occasionally absent. The number of barbels in other groups are: intermandibular, 0–2 (mean 1.45); posterior mandibular 2–5 (3.05); anterior cheek tuft 3–6 (4.70); anterior internasals 2–5 (3.35); posterior internasals 1–2 (1.10). The lower barbel of the anterior cheek tuft is long, considerably longer than others of the tuft.

COLOR IN PRESERVATION.—Head and trunk mottled with light and dark brown markings, dorsally and laterally; head ventrally, breast and belly light. Saddles on trunk usually weakly developed (Plates 7b, 8b). Snout, lower jaw, cheek, preopercle, opercle, and head dorsally irregularly mottled in light and brown markings, dark preopercular head wedge not evident (Plate 4); a light band traverses head between upper opercular areas. The 4 typical dark trunk saddles present in most species of Gobiopsis are poorly defined in the larger specimens, 2 of which are divided by light blotches along the dorsal midline, noticeably so in smaller specimens, forming 6 brown dorsal cross bars or saddles; the first saddle in the predorsal area traverses a wide area between the upper pectoral fins; the second dorsal saddle passes through the midportion of the first dorsal fin and extends onto the fin; the third saddle touches the end of the first dorsal fin and extends out on the tips of the posterior spines; the fourth saddle passes through the third and fourth rays of the second dorsal fin; the fifth saddle passes through the midportion (the sixth and seventh rays) of the second dorsal fin; the sixth saddle touches the last ray of the soft dorsal fin; the typical dark mark is present at end of caudal peduncle, at beginning of upper procurrent caudal fin rays. Trunk saddles join irregularly at midtrunk, and 6 projections extend downward from wavy stripe on ventrolateral part of anterior trunk, ventrally on caudal peduncle; base of caudal fin with an irregular spot deeper than wide.

Base of pectoral fin with large, light area, the lower two-thirds much wider than upper part; light base divided or nearly so by dark wedge extending anteriorly from dark sickle-shaped mark on proximal portion of pectoral fin, distal half of pectoral fin with dark brown spots arranged, more or less, in 3–5 wavy, vertical bands. Pelvic fin clear in smaller specimens, slightly dusky in larger specimens. First dorsal fin with three brownish marks separated by two light areas, the first is a spot at anterior base, the second is a bar through middle of fin from bases of the third, fourth, and fifth spines and the third is a bar extending from base of last spine to tips of fourth and fifth spines. Second dorsal fin with 5 brownish, oblique cross bars or spots, the first is a spot located basally at the first and second rays, the second is a bar that passes upward and forward from the bases of the third and fourth rays, the third, a bar, extends up and forward from the bases of sixth and seventh rays, the fourth bar extends up and forward from the last ray, and a fifth mark is at the outer tips of the last 6 rays. Anal fin clear in smaller specimens, slightly dusky in larger specimens. The caudal fin mottled, light and brown, the brown marks arranged in 3–4 irregular, wavy bars. Saddles and fin bars are more defined and the pattern is more intense on the smaller specimens.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—Known from 2 disjunct areas, southern India (Gulf of Mannar) and the northern Gulf of Thailand (Figure 7).

ECOLOGY.—Sand and living and dead coral are listed as bottom types in field notes of all 4 collections. At one collection site a “variety” of sponges was listed. Specimens were taken in depths up to 4–5 m.

ETYMOLOGY.—Named for Loren P. Woods, Curator of Fishes, FMNH, who collected all but 2 of the known specimens.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.—Holotype: USNM 212249, male (38.0), Musal Tivu (also known as Hare Island), N side, outer reef, Manauli Reef, across channel from Mandapam, Gulf of Mannar, India, collected over bottom of broken and live coral and sand by Loren P. Woods, sta 4, 2 Jan 1964.

Paratypes: 24 males and 32 females. USNM 211343, 3 males (23.9–42.3), 1 cleared and stained, 4 females (27.8–37.7), 1 cleared and stained, same data as USNM 212249; CAS 31498, male (30.7), female (33.7), same data as USNM 212249; FMNH 77048, 10 males (31.9–39.0), 12 females (29.3–36.2), same data as USNM 212249; USNM 211344, 3 males (28.4–39.5), 3 females (19.6–35.3), type-locality, L. P. Woods sta 7, Jan 1964; FMNH 77049, 6 males (29.0–38.8), 10 females (21.1–32.9), same locality as USNM 211344; FMNH 77050, female (34.0), Musal Tivu, 1 mile off NE tip, L. P. Woods sta 21, 22 Feb 1964; CAS 33631, male (29.1), female (26.8), Gulf of Thailand, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, NW side of Goh Raed, 11°47′40″N, 99°49′30″E, GVF Reg. No. 2651, 19 Jun 1961.

Gobiopsis woodsi, Woods' barbelgoby, is a species of goby found in the Indo-west Pacific.