''Bryaninops yongei'', the wire-coral goby or whip coral goby, is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

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 widely distributed from the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

waters of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

(including the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

) to the islands in the center of the

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

Description

The whip coral goby has a semi-transparent head and body, with white scales running along its vertebra. Its head is reddish-brown to violet in color and the goby has pink to violet-red eyes. Their coloration is noted to match the color of the coral they inhabit. The fish is approximately 3 to 3.5 centimeters long. Healthy whip coral gobies have seven dorsal spines, seven dorsal soft rays, one anal spine and seven anal soft rays. They also have cup-like pelvic fins and gills that open below the base of the pectoral fins.

Taxonomy and naming

The whip coral goby is a member of the genus ''

Bryaninops ''Bryaninops'' (commonly known as sea whip gobies) is a tropical Indo-Pacific genus of gobies. The genus takes its common name from the fact that it is commensal on gorgonians (commonly known as sea whips) and black coral. The genus is further ...

'', the family Gobiidae and the order Perciformes. It was discovered in 1906.

Habitat

There are noted populations of the whip coral goby around areas such as the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archi ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

. The whip coral goby lives in and around coral species such as stinging coral. Whip coral gobies usually live in pairs in association with the wire coral

Cirrhipathes ''Cirrhipathes'' is a genus of black coral from the family Antipathidae. Coral species in this genus are commonly known as whip or wire corals because they often exhibit a twisted or coiled morphology. In addition to their colorful appearance, wi ...

anguina'' (

Antipathidae Antipathidae is a family of corals in the order Antipatharia, commonly known as black corals. Taxonomy This family contains the following genera according to the World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) ...

) at depths of between . These pairs are usually male-female pairs. This species is also found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade.

Behavior

Reproduction

Whip coral gobies reproduce through benthic spawning, meaning they release eggs and sperm to be fertilized externally. They also have the ability to change their sex when there is a gender imbalance.

Relation with coral

Gobies such as the whip coral goby respond to chemical signals released from the coral reefs they inhabit. The gobies will eliminate algae toxic to coral from their environment and will also clean mucus build-ups off of coral.

Defensive behaviour

The whip coral goby lacks the ability to cause harm to predators. As such, the whip coral goby is not a threat to human safety. However, white coral gobies have the ability to quickly propel themselves through water to escape from predators. This defensive mechanism makes it difficult for researchers to study the fish in its natural habitat.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2705280 yongei Fish described in 1969 Fish of the Red Sea Fish of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by William P. Davis Taxa named by Daniel Morris Cohen