''Brachygobius'' is a small genus of gobies. They are popular

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

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 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 (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 Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and Southeast Asia 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 include ...

habitats but also in slightly brackish 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), and ...

. 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

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