The two-spotted goby (''Gobiusculus flavescens'') 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 ...

goby Goby is a common name for many species of small to medium sized ray-finned fish, normally with large heads and tapered bodies, which are found in marine, brackish and freshwater environments. Traditionally most of the species called gobies have b ...

native to marine and brackish waters of the eastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

where it can be found from the

Faeroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betwee ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

to the northwestern coast of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It has also been recorded from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

though records from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

are uncertain. They are common on all coasts of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. This species can reach a length of TL.

Habitat

This fish prefers to inhabit areas with plenty of weed growth, being found on overgrown structures and in beds of ''

Laminaria ''Laminaria'' is a genus of brown seaweed in the order Laminariales (kelp), comprising 31 species native to the north Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans. This economically important genus is characterized by long, leathery laminae and relativ ...

'' or ''

Zostera ''Zostera'' is a small genus of widely distributed seagrasses, commonly called marine eelgrass, or simply seagrass or eelgrass, and also known as seaweed by some fishermen and recreational boaters including yachtsmen. The genus ''Zostera'' co ...

''. They are found in intertidal pools and shallow water to a depth of 20 m.

Description

''Gobiusculus flavescens'' are small, slender gobies, reaching up to 6 cm in length. They are distinct from other

gobies Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the ...

in that their eyes are on the side of the head (lateral) rather than on top (dorsal).Species information:''Gobiusculus flavescens''
Marlin. There is a black spot at the base of the tail fin, and in the males, there is a second, smaller black spot beneath the pectoral fins. They are reddish to greenish brown in colour, paler on the undersides with dark reticulations dorsally. There are four light 'saddle' marks dorsally from the head to the end of the second dorsal fin. Along the midline of the sides are a series of bluish markings. During the breeding season these markings become extremely bright in the males.

Behaviour

Unlike most gobies, this species does not live on the seabed but instead lives in shoals among

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

es and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

s. It feeds on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

such as

crustacea Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e. Breeding takes place in the summer. The male becomes

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

and scoops out a nest in the sand, usually under a stone, in which the female lays a batch of eggs. The male then guards the eggs until they hatch. The juvenile fish move into deeper water to spend the winter. The adults usually die after reproducing once.

References

External links

* Photos o
Gobiusculus flavescens
in iNaturalist {{Taxonbar, from=Q953637

two-spotted goby The two-spotted goby (''Gobiusculus flavescens'') is a species of goby native to marine and brackish waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean where it can be found from the Faeroes and Norway to the northwestern coast of Spain. It has also been reco ...

Fish of Europe Fish of the North Sea Fish of the Baltic Sea

Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius