The Rhyacichthyidae or loach gobies are a small family of
perciform fish in two genera. The three species all inhabit rivers and streams, often with fast flow. ''R. aspro'' is widespread in Western Pacific region (China and Japan to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and the
Solomons), but the two remaining species are restricted to
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
and
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
.
Little is known about their breeding behavior, but the eggs or
larvae
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect developmental biology, development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typical ...
float down into the sea where the young grow up, only to later return to the adult river and stream habitat.
They are fairly small fish, no more than in
standard length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology.
Overall length
Standard length (SL) is ...
.
[
]
Species
*Genus '' Protogobius''
**'' Protogobius attiti'' Watson & Pöllabauer, 1998
*Genus '' Rhyacichthys''
**'' Rhyacichthys aspro'' (Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...
, 1837) - loach goby
**''Rhyacichthys guilberti
''Rhyacichthys guilberti'' is a goby belonging to the family Rhyacichthyidae. This fish only occurs in the Northern Province of New Caledonia and in Vanuatu. It is found in only two rivers. Its maximum standard length of about 240 mm. Its p ...
'' Dingerkus & Séret, 1992
References
*
Encyclopedia of Life, Family Rhyacichthyidae
Gobiiformes
Taxa named by David Starr Jordan
{{Gobiiformes-stub