''Tomiyamichthys alleni'', Allen's shrimpgoby, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Gobiidae. It occurs in the western Pacific Ocean where it is commensal with an aplheid shrimp.

Description

''Tomiyamichthys alleni'' has meristic counts of 6-7 spines and 10 soft rays in the dorsal fins and a single spine and 10 soft rays in 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 ...

. It is pale grey on the back with 4-5 irregular brown saddle-like blotches running from the nape to the caudal peduncle and the ventral side is white. There is a scattering of orange spots with darke margins on the head and body and there is an oblique black band under each eye. The first and second dorsal fins are marked with orange spots orange spots and there are 2-3 dark spots close to the margin of the first dorsal fin. The first dorsal fin is triangular in shape with the first two spines being elongated. The

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...

s are merged and there is a well developed frenum. The lateral scales number 25-50, the heaf lacks scales and is naked while the body is covered in cycloid scales. It has a rounded caudal fin which is shorter than the length of its head.

Distribution

''Tomiyamichthys alleni'' is known to occur in the western Pacific Ocean where it has been recorded from

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

and

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, in Indonesia, and also from waters off southern Japan.

Habitat and biology

''Tomiyamichthys alleni'' is found where there are fine sandy bottoms living in association with alpheid shrimp ''

Alpheus randalli ''Alpheus randalli'' is a species of snapping shrimp in the family Alpheidae. It lives in the Marquesas Islands and parts of the Indian Ocean, including the Seychelles, in association with a goby of the genus ''Amblyeleotris''. The shrimp is tr ...

'', and it has been recorded in pairs. It occurs at depths of .

Conservation

''Tomiyamichthys alleni'' is known from just 8 specimens and a number of photographs and very little is known about its actual distribution and population, 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 ...

therefore assesses its status as

Data Deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

Etymology

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 ...

and the common name honour the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Gerald R. Allen Gerald Robert "Gerry" Allen (born March 26, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) is an American-born Australian ichthyologist. His career began in 1963, when he spent a semester at the University of Hawaii, where he also received a PhD in marine zo ...

of the Western Australia Museum in Perth, to mark the senior author's gratitude to Allen for his assistance in the study of gobies.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, From=Q3436079 Taxa named by Akihisa Iwata Taxa named by Nobuhiro Ohnishi Taxa named by Tomonori Hirata Fish described in 2000 alleni