Note this section is presently (2019) a confused mess owing to changes in Goby taxonomy. Notice also Wikispecies is even worse.


"Gobiid fishes are a world-wide group of tropical and temperate fishes occurring in freshwater, estuaries, and in the sea. The group contains about 2,000 species, making it one of the largest families of fishes in the world Early workers separated gobiid fishes from the related and more primitive eleotrids by the development of a sucking disc, formed by fusion of the pelvic fins in gobiids. Recent studies (Akihito 1969, Birdsong 1975, Miller 1973) have shown that this character is not adequate to separate the two groups, since many coral reef gobiids have secondarily lost the connection between the pelvic fins. Few true eleotrids occur on coral reef, most being found in freshwater or estuaries. Only four highly specialised eleotrids occur on coral reefs; Calumia, Allomicrodesmus, Xenisthmus and an undescribed genus. The genus Amblyeleotris has been regarded as an eleotrid, since the pelvic fins are separate, but it is a true gobiid, having 5 branchiostegal rays and a pelvic girdle characteristic of gobiids. Studies of coral reef genera by the senior author indicate that most speciose coral reef genera have species with the disc and others without it. In some species of Fusigobius, the degree of connection of the pelvic fins varies geographically and is sometimes sexually dimorphic. The species of Amblyeleotris described here normally lives in association with alphaeid shrimps." (Hoese & Steene, 1978)