''Eviota sigillata'', commonly called seven-figure pygmy goby or adorned dwarfgoby, 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 marine
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Gobiidae
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 ...
. They are widespread throughout 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 ...
waters of the
Indo-West 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 ...
area, from the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, RĂ©publique des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
to the
Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
.
It inhabits
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...
habitats at depths from . This species has the shortest lifespan for a vertebrate, living for at most 59 days.
[Le Page, M., 2005]
Reef fish lives fastest, dies youngest
New Scientist 25 April 2005 (NewScientist.com). About three weeks are as
pelagic larvae, two weeks settling on the reef and three weeks as adults.
[
This pygmy goby can reach a length of .][Kuiter, R.H. and T. Tonozuka, 2001. Pictorial guide to Indonesian reef fishes. Part 3. Jawfishes - Sunfishes, Opistognathidae - Molidae. Zoonetics, Australia. p. 623-893.]
See also
* Pandaka pygmaea
The dwarf pygmy goby or Philippine goby (''Pandaka pygmaea'') is a tropical species of fish in the subfamily Gobionellinae from brackish water and mangrove areas in Southeast Asia. It is one of the smallest fish species in the world. Males reach ...
References
*
Depczynski M, Bellwood DR (2005) Shortest recorded vertebrate lifespan found in a coral reef fish. Current Biology Vol 15 (8): R288-R289.
External links
Fish is shortest-lived vertebrate
*http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219453
*
sigillata
Taxa named by Susan L. Jewett
Taxa named by Ernest A. Lachner
Fish described in 1983
{{Gobiidae-stub