''Elacatinus figaro'', the barber goby or yellow line goby, is a colourful species of marine goby, family

Gobiidae 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 t ...

, from the southwestern Atlantic, where it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the coastal waters of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Description

''E. figaro'' is dark in colour with yellow ventral and dorsal stripes and opaque blue

pectoral fins Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

. It has a terminal mouth and the pelvic fins are merged to form a suction cup. They are normally 2.5-3.4 cm in length.

Distribution

The barber goby is endemic to the waters off Brazil, where it occurs from Santa Catarina in the south to

Pedra do Sal Pedra do Sal (English: "Rock of Salt") is a historic and religious site in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Saúde. The site was originally a quilombo village. An association group still lives there, formally known as the Community Descende ...

Piauí Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66 ...

in the north.

Biology

''E. figaro'' is found over substrates made up of coral and rocky either just off the coast of mainland Brazil or off inshore islands at depths of 3–20 m. It occurs either solitarily or in small groups of up to six fish over coral heads, among encrusting algae and crustose sponges, or in the vicinity of sea urchins, retreating to seek protection among the spines if threatened. It feeds mainly by cleaning other fish, e.g. ''

Ophioblennius atlanticus ''Ophioblennius atlanticus'', also known as the redlip blenny and the horseface blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny, family Blenniidae, found primarily in the western central Atlantic ocean. Redlip blennies can be found in coral crests and ...

'', '' Abudefduf saxatilis'', ''

Mycteroperca rubra The mottled grouper (''Mycteroperca rubra'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It is found in the easter ...

'', and ''

Mycteroperca acutirostris ''Mycteroperca acutirostris'' the comb grouper, western comb grouper or wavy-lined grouper, is a species of grouper from the family Serranidae from the warmer waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. Description ''Mycteroperca acutirostris'' has a ...

''.

Conservation

The Ministério do Meio Ambiente Red List of Brazilian Fauna published in 2014 lists ''E.s figaro'' as a threatened species, and recommends that it fits the vulnerable category of

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

's IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. The export of ''E. figaro'' from Brazil is illegal, which means that captive-bred specimens are the only ones which can be legally sold within the aquarium trade.

Naming

The generic name ''Elacatinus'' is from Greek ''elakatines'' which means

fusiform Fusiform means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a structure that continues from one or both ends, such as an aneurysm on a ...

fishes preserved in salt, while the specific name ''figaro'' references

Pierre Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satiris ...

's title character in the play

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an '' opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was b ...

. The type specimen was taken at Pedra Do Navio,

Ilha Anchieta The Ilha Anchieta State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta) is a state park in the state of São Paulo, Brazil Location The Ilha Anchieta State Park covers the Ilha Anchieta, an offshore island in the Atlantic Ocean in the municipality o ...

, Ubatuba,

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...

by I. Sazima, R. Moura and C. Sazima, and the description was published in April 1997 in ''Aqua: Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology'' Volume 5, Issue 3, pp 33–38.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2139403 Fig Endemic fauna of Brazil Fish of Brazil Marine fauna of South America Fish described in 1997