''Chaenogobius annularis'', the fork-tongued goby, is a species of
goby from the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Gobionellinae
The Gobionellinae are a subfamily of fish which was formerly classified in the family Gobiidae, the gobies, but the 5th Edition of '' Fishes of the World'' classifies the subfamily as part of the family Oxudercidae. Members of Gobionellinae most ...
which is found in the brackish waters of temperate eastern Asia. It is the
type species of the genus ''
Chaenogobius
''Chaenogobius'' is a genus of gobies native to Asia and the western 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 ...
''.
Description
''Chaenogobius annularis'' has a light brown head and body with six, or so, broad vertical bands along the body and with several small, dusky spots and a distinct blotch on the caudal peduncle. The
dorsal fins are light brown with darker, sinuous horizontal bands while the
caudal
Caudal may refer to:
Anatomy
* Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism
* Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...
and
pectoral fins are also light brown but are marked with darker vertical bands. It grows to a maximum
total length of .
Distribution
''Chaenogobius annularis'' occurs in temperate eastern Asia including Russia, China and the
Korean Peninsula as well as the islands of Japan, the
Kuril Islands and
Sakhalin.
[
]
Habitat and biology
''Chaenogobius annularis'' is a species of brackish water where it has a demersal
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
habit.[ It occurs along intertidal rocky shores and in rock pools and it is one of the commonest intertidal fish species in the temperate coastlines of the Japanese Archipelago.]
Conservation
As it has a large distribution and there are no threats to this species known, the IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
have assessed ''C. annularis'' as Least Concern.[
]
Etymology
The generic name ''Chaenogobius'' is a compound of the Greek ''chaeno'' meaning "gape" and ''gobius'' or goby while 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 ...
''annularis'' is Latin meaning "ringed", referring to the transverse bands on its body.
References
{{Taxobar, from=Q3761729
Taxa named by Theodore Gill
Fish described in 1859
Gobionellinae