Common Name
Scaleless Goby
Year Described
Ginsburg, 1953
Identification
Dorsal Fin: VII, 9-10 (usually 10)
Anal Fin: 8-9
Pectoral Fin: 15
Caudal Fin: 17 segmented rays
Vertebrae: 11+16= 27 (total)
Body elongate with a large head. Eye medium sized. Dorsal fin with anterior spines not elongate and last two spines more spaced than the first five. Pelvic fin rays branched. Pelvic fins not fused. Two anal-fin pterygiophores anterior to the first haemal spine. Papillae rows 5i and 5s are separate. Cephalic lateralis pores absent. Head and trunk naked. Basicaudal scales absent.
Color
Body pale with several lateral dark reticulations or saddles merging with 5-6 irregular lateral blotches. Anterior markings fuse into a "Y" shape. Dorsum and head heavily dusted with melanophores. Head with to distinct eye-bands running from anterior and posterior margin of eye. Dorsal fin pale with faint oblique banding with heavy speckling on bands. Caudal fin with a faint vertical band and speckling. Other fins with less dense melanophores and no pattern,
Size
Maximum size to 25mm SL.
Habitat
Inhabits shallow coral reefs in and around substrate.
Range
Scattered records from the Caribbean Sea: the Bahamas, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, and Honduras.
References
Greenfield, D. W. 1993. New goby, Psilotris boehlkei (Pisces: Gobiidae), from the western Atlantic, with a key to the species. Copeia, 771-775.
Tornabene, L., J.L. Van Tassell, R.G. Gilmore, D.R. Robertson, F. Young, & C.C. Baldwin. 2016a. Molecular phylogeny, analysis of character evolution, and submersible collections enable a new classification of a diverse group of gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Nes subgroup), including nine new species and four new genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society.
Tornabene, L., D.R. Robertson, & C.C. Baldwin. 2016b. Varicus lacerta, a new species of goby (Teleostei, Gobiidae, Gobiosomatini, Nes subgroup) from a mesophotic reef in the southern Caribbean. ZooKeys; 596, 143.