The arrow goby (''Clevelandia ios'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of goby native to marine and

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

waters of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. This species grows to a length of SL, though most do not exceed TL. This fish can also be found displayed in public aquaria. This species is the only known member of its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Description

The arrow goby is a small, pale grey,

translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions a ...

fish which grows to in length. It has two

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

s; the first is the shorter and has 4-5 spines while the dorsal fin has 15-17 soft fin rays. The

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

is about equal in length to the second dorsal fin and has 14-17 fin rays. Like other gobies, the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

is rounded and the

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

s form a cone which the goby uses to prop the anterior part of its body above the substrate. Its scales are minute, and the mouth extends beyond to the eye. The dorsal fins have short horizontal stripes and the body is pale brownish-grey in colour with darker mottling.

Distribution

Arrow gobies are found along the Pacific Coast of North America, from the

Rivers Inlet Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance off Fitz Hugh Sound, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the ...

in British Columbia to

Habitat and biology

The arrow goby occurs in sand or mud substrates, where it uses burrows created by

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s as shelters when it is threatened and as a refuge at low tide. Some of the species which make burrows used by arrow gobies include the shrimps ''

Neotrypaea californiensis ''Neotrypaea californiensis'' (formerly ''Callianassa californiensis''), the Bay ghost shrimp, is a species of ghost shrimp that lives on the Pacific coast of North America. It is a pale animal which grows to a length of . One claw is bigger ...

'' and '' Upogebia pugettensis'' and the fat innkeeper worm ''

Urechis caupo ''Urechis caupo'' is a species of spoon worm in the family Urechidae, commonly known as the innkeeper echiuran, the fat innkeeper worm (because the tunnels often contain other animals), the innkeeper worm, or the penis fish. It is found in shal ...

''. It is a common species of estuaries, lagoons and tidal sloughs, and it has been reported in freshwater. The adults feed on

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

tintinnid Tintinnids are ciliates of the choreotrich order Tintinnida, distinguished by vase-shaped shells, the name deriving from a Latin source meaning a small tinkling bell, that are called'' loricae'', which are mostly protein but may incorporate min ...

s, and the eggs and young of the host shrimp or prawn. This species will place large food items close to crabs so that the crab will tear it into smaller pieces. Arrow gobies are prey for ''

Sebastes ''Sebastes'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae part of the family Scorpaenidae, most of which have the common name of rockfish. A few are called ocean perch, sea perch or redfish instead. They are found i ...

'', staghorn sculpin, whitespot greenling and

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

s. This species does not build a nest or provide any care for its offspring, and the eggs are dispersed into the water column. The underside of this goby is silvery, and when threatened, they use this to make a brief signal to other gobies before quickly taking refuge in the burrow. This is also used to signal for mates. The individuals of this species are

protogynous hermaphrodite Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. In particular, ...

s; young adults are females and as they mature they become male.

Etymology

The generic name ''Clevelandia'' honours the lawyer Daniel Cleveland (1838–1929), who was a founder and president of the

San Diego Natural History Society The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institu ...

and who made significant contributions to the knowledge of the flora and fauna of

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Over a dozen plants – including the Cleveland sage and another genus '' Clevelandia'' – were also named after him. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''ios'' is an Ancient Greek word for an arrow: . It refers to the slender fish's long body that is reminiscent of an arrow.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2657665 Gobionellinae Fish described in 1882 Monotypic fish genera