Psilotris kaufmani

Common Name

Kaufman's Goby

Year Described

Greenfield, Findley & Johnson, 1993

Identification

Dorsal Fin: VII, 10-11 (usually 11)
Anal Fin: 10-11 (usually 11)
Pectoral Fin: 16-19 (usually 18)
Caudal Fin: 17 segmented rays
Vertebrae: 11+16= 27 (total)

Body elongate with a large head. Eye large. Dorsal fin with anterior spines not elongate and last two spines more spaced than the first five. Pelvic fin rays branched except for the last which is shorter than fourth and unbranched. Pelvic fins not fused. Two anal-fin pterygiophores anterior to the first haemal spine. Papillae rows 5i and 5s are connected as a single row. Cephalic lateralis pores absent. Head and trunk naked. Basicaudal scales absent.

Color

Body and head bright white with numerous golden blotches and spots of varying sizes. Spots on body noticeably smaller than head and surrounded and covered by black melanophores. A series of 4-6 lateral blotches is usually more distinctly darkened, with the last fused with a dark vertical bar on the tail base. Head with group of close-set blotches that run onto cheek as two bands. Eye with two bands radiating from front and rear margins forming a triangle with a small partial band in between. Dorsal and caudal fins boldly marked with oblique golden spot-bands that darken on the basal part of fin. The margin is heavily speckled with dark melanophores and there is a white submarginal band. Upper and lower lobes of tail also speckled. Anal fin white with a median band of melanophores. Pectoral fin strongly bicolored with black and white (more than half of fin dark). Pelvic fin white. Eye dark.

Size

Maximum size to 32.2mm SL.

Habitat

Taken on deep reef slopes and dropoffs from 11-40m. Inhabits crevices within the reef or rock structure.

Range

Known from scattered localities in the Caribbean Sea: Jamaica, Belize, Honduras, and off Colombia.

References

Greenfield, D.W., L.T. Findley, & R.K. Johnson. 1993. Psilotris kaufmani n. sp. (Pisces: Gobiidae), a fourth western Atlantic species of Psilotris. Copeia, 183-186.

Tornabene, L., J.L. Van Tassell, R.G. Gilmore, D.R. Robertson, F. Young, & C.C. Baldwin. 2016. 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.