Elacatinus Chancei
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''Elacatinus chancei'', the shortstripe goby, is a
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of ray-finned fish in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Gobiidae Gobiidae or gobies is a family (biology), family of bony fish in the order (biology), order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising over 2,000 species in more than 200 genus, genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typ ...
. It lives inside or on the surface of a sponge and occurs in tropical waters in the west central Atlantic Ocean, the Bahamas, the Antilles, and Venezuela.


Description

The shortstripe goby is a small, slender fish growing to about in length. The dorsal fin is divided into two parts with a total of seven spines and 12 soft rays, while the anal fin has no spines and ten soft rays. The general colour is a translucent pale grey. A bright yellow line starts at the eye and runs to near the pectoral fin. It is lined above and below by black lines which converge and continue as a broad stripe to the tail fin. The gill covers and the skin under the eyes are often suffused with pink.


Distribution

The shortstripe goby is found in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean in the Southern Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Caicos Islands, the Lesser Antilles, Aves Island, and some small islands near Venezuela. It seems to live in areas in which the yellowstripe goby ('' Elacatinus horsti''), a closely related species that also inhabits sponges, does not occur.


Biology

The shortstripe goby lives in association with a tubular sponge such as '' Verongia aerophoba'' or a massive sponge such as '' Neofibularia nolitangere''. It feeds on the large number of
parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...
worms '' Haplosyllis spongicola'' that live on the surface of these sponges. It spends most of its time inside the osculi of the sponge, but sometimes rests on the outer surface. Like other members of its family, the shortstripe goby does not have a
lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...
system, relying instead on sensory organs in the head.


Name

The specific name honours Colonel Edwin M. Chance, a businessman who sponsored the expedition during which the
type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...
was collected.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2097483 chancei Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of the Caribbean Fish of the Lesser Antilles Marine fauna of North America Marine fish of Venezuela Fish described in 1933 Taxa named by William Beebe