''Oplopomus oplopomus'', commonly known as the spinecheek goby, 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 the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region. They can grow to a maximum length of . They inhabit

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

Distribution and habitat

Spinecheek gobies are native to 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 ...

and 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, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, occurring from

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

to the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...

and as far north as the

Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. They inhabit

s at depths of .

Description

The spinecheek goby grows to a maximum length of . It has an elongated, laterally compressed body. The mouth is slanted downwards, with the lower jaw protruding past the upper jaw. Teeth are present in both rows in multiple rows, with the teeth in the outermost row enlarged. Its lower jaw also contains a pair of curved canines. The eye is wider in diameter than the blunt snout. An open pore is present just behind the eye. Its head does not possess scales.

Scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

on the body are ctenoid. The first dorsal fin is elongated and separated from the second dorsal fin. Both have a stiff first spine. The second dorsal fin and 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 ...

are roughly the same size. 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 are rounded and shorter than the length of the head. The ventral fins are pointed and fused with a bridge of skin (a frenum). 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 are about the same length as the head. This goby is reddish-green on its dorsal surface with a number of small black spots. The head has short black lines. Both the body and the head have numerous tiny, iridescent, pale blue, violet, and yellow dots. On the middle of the sides of the body is a row of six longitudinal dark spots. The fins are yellowish-orange in color. The first dorsal fin has a slanting violet stripe, while the second dorsal fin is studded with small dark spots. The pectoral fin is also covered with small spots. The base of the anal fin and the rear portion of the ventral fins are black. The caudal fin has a stripe running through the center. Males have more intense blue markings than females. Juveniles have more black spots and less yellow and blue spots than the adults.

Taxonomy and nomenclature

Spinecheek gobies belong to the

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 ...

Oplopomus ''Oplopomus'' is a genus of gobies found in coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific region. It contains two species. Description ''Oplopomus'' is characterized by elongated bodies and compressed heads. They possess 24 to 30 ctenoid scales on the bod ...

'' of the goby family, Gobiidae. The species was first described by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Achille Valenciennes Achille Valenciennes (9 August 1794 – 13 April 1865) was a French zoologist. Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. His study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology. ...

in 1837 as ''Gobius oplopomus''. Spinecheek gobies are known as ''stekelwang-dikkop'' in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, ''bia'' in Tagalog, ''mano'o-lape'' in Samoan, and o'opu'' in Tahitian.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q514018 Gobiinae Fish described in 1837