''Brachygobius'' is a small

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

gobies 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 th ...

. They are popular aquarium fish where a number of species are sold as bumblebee gobies because their colours are similar to those of

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gene ...

Morphology

Bumblebee gobies range in size from 1.5 cm to 4 cm.Schäfer F: Brackish Water Fishes, pp 49-51, Aqualog 2005, They are generally coloured black with pale yellow to orange bands.Naomi Delventhal in Monks, Neale (2006): ''Brackish Water Fishes'', pp 131-132, TFH Publishing. Males are generally slimmer than females and often have more vivid colours, typically orange rather than yellow. Females may also have smaller and rounder heads. When spawning, the colours of the males become deeper, the orange bands becoming red in the case of ''Brachygobius doriae''.

Taxonomy

This genus is informally divided by taxonomists into the dwarf ''Brachygobius nunus''-

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

(e.g., ''B. nunus'', ''B. aggregatus'', and ''B. mekongensis'') and the bigger ''Brachygobius doriae''-species group (e.g., ''B. doriae'', ''B. sabanus'', and ''B. xanthomelas'').

Species

There are currently nine recognized species in this genus: * ''

Brachygobius aggregatus ''Brachygobius'' is a small genus of gobies. They are popular aquarium fish where a number of species are sold as bumblebee gobies because their colours are similar to those of bumblebees. Morphology Bumblebee gobies range in size from 1.5&nb ...

'' Herre, 1940 (Schooling bumblebee goby) * ''

Brachygobius doriae ''Brachygobius doriae'', the bumblebee goby, is a species of goby native to fresh and brackish waters of Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. This species can reach a length of TL. It is listed as ...

'' ( Günther, 1868) (Bumblebee goby) * ''

Brachygobius kabiliensis ''Brachygobius kabiliensis'', commonly known as the kabili bumblebee goby, is a species of goby. Habitat Inhabits both fresh and brackish water, and is generally restricted to lowland, coastal environments, including mangrove swamps, estuari ...

'' Inger, 1958 (Kabili bumblebee goby) * ''

Brachygobius mekongensis ''Brachygobius mekongensis'' is a species of goby from the subfamily Gobionellinae The Gobionellinae are a subfamily of fish which was formerly classified in the family Gobiidae, the gobies, but the 5th Edition of '' Fishes of the World'' cl ...

'' Larson & Vidthayanon, 2000 * ''

Brachygobius nunus ''Brachygobius nunus'', the Golden banded goby, is a species of bumblebee goby, a small genus of gobies that takes its common name from their round bodies, big heads, and their overall yellow to golden coloration interrupted by four brown to ...

'' ( F. Hamilton, 1822) * ''

Brachygobius sabanus ''Brachygobius'' is a small genus of gobies. They are popular aquarium fish where a number of species are sold as bumblebee gobies because their colours are similar to those of bumblebees. Morphology Bumblebee gobies range in size from 1.5&nb ...

'' Inger, 1958 * ''

Brachygobius sua ''Brachygobius'' is a small genus of gobies. They are popular aquarium fish where a number of species are sold as bumblebee gobies because their colours are similar to those of bumblebees. Morphology Bumblebee gobies range in size from 1.5&nb ...

'' ( H. M. Smith, 1931) * ''

Brachygobius xanthomelas ''Brachygobius xanthomelas'' is a species of goby from the subfamily Gobionellinae The Gobionellinae are a subfamily of fish which was formerly classified in the family Gobiidae, the gobies, but the 5th Edition of '' Fishes of the World'' cl ...

'' Herre, 1937 * ''

Brachygobius xanthozonus The bumblebee fish (''Brachygobius xanthozonus'') is a species of fresh and brackish water goby native to Thailand and Indonesia. This species can reach a length of SL and is found in lower parts of rivers, coastal areas, mangroves and h ...

'' ( Bleeker, 1849) (Bumblebee fish)

Ecology

Bumblebee gobies are found across Southern and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

primarily in

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does in ...

habitats but also in slightly

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

waters.

Reproduction

These gobies are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...

. Eggs are deposited in a cave where they are guarded by the male. Clutch size is around 150-200 eggs.Riehl R. & Baensch H: Aquarium Atlas (vol. 1), pp 836-837, Voyageur Press, 1996, The eggs hatch after around seven days and the fry become free swimming another five to seven days later.

In the aquarium

Bumblebee gobies are popular aquarium fish. A tank around 40 liters in size will house a dozen specimens comfortably. Under good conditions they can live in an aquarium for around 5 years. The most commonly traded species in the hobby belong to the ''Brachygobius doriae''-species group but the smaller ''Brachygobius nunus'' is also traded occasionally. Although many aquarium books use the name ''Brachygobius xanthozona'', this species is very rare in the wild and is not commercially traded.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q388186 Gobionellinae Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Freshwater fish genera