Main identification features
- no flap front nostril
- back: 6-7 barsflank - wiggly lines
- 1st dorsal fin 0-12
- lines radiate from eye
- blotch above pectoral
Grandparent's clingfish
Body relatively slender, elongate, head relatively slender; 8-10 rakers on 2nd & 3rd gill arch; a small fleshy swelling at pectoral base; front nostril without skin flap; 4-5 pairs of upper & 4 pairs of lower 3-pointed incisors, followed by 1-3 & 1-2 large canines, respectively, on each side; 5-7 & 6-8 short, blunt rakers on 2nd & 3rd gill arches; anus markedly closer to anal fin origin than sucker; pectoral 21-24 rays; sucker with broad patch of papillae at front, no papillae in center, with 4-5 rows of papillae across rear; dorsal relatively long 10-12 rays; anal 8-10 rays; tail 10-12 rays.
Translucent light olive above; 4-5 dark lines radiate from eye - to snout, to corner of mouth, behind eye; large dark spot on flank above pectoral base, often bordered at front by same-sized white spot; 6-7 brown bars across back between pectoral and tail base that break into wiggly lines and narrow bars covering sides of body; all fins except pelvics with numerous small spots, concentrated along rays of pectoral; base of tail fin dark.
Size: 4.2 cm.
Habitat: mangrove roots.
Depth: 0-5 m.
Costa Rica and Panama.
Attributes
Abundance: Common.
Cites: Not listed.
Climate Zone: Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo).
Depth Range Max: 5 m.
Depth Range Min: 0 m.
Diet: mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs); mobile benthic worms; mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves; benthic microalgae.
Eastern Pacific Range: Northern limit=10; Southern limit=8; Western limit=-85; Eastern limit=-79; Latitudinal range=2; Longitudinal range=6.
Egg Type: Benthic; Pelagic larva.
Feeding Group: Carnivore.
FishBase Habitat: Demersal.
Global Endemism: Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic; East Pacific endemic; All species.
Habitat: Mangrove; Soft bottom (mud, sand,gravel, beach, estuary & mangrove); Soft bottom only; Estuary.
Inshore Offshore: Inshore; Inshore Only.
IUCN Red List: Not evaluated / Listed.
Length Max: 4.2 cm.
Regional Endemism: Continent only; Continent; TEP endemic; Continental TEP endemic; Panamic province endemic; All species.
Residency: Resident.
Salinity: Brackish; Non Marine.
Water Column Position: Bottom; Bottom only;
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- Briggs, J.C., 1955., A monograph of the clingfishes (Order Xenopterygii)., Stanford Ichthyol. Bull., 6:1-224.
- Szelistowski, W.A., 1990., A new clingfish (Teleostei: Gobiesocidae) from the mangroves of Costa Rica, with Notes on its Ecology and Early Development., Copeia, 1990:500-507.
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