Sufflogobius Bibarbatus
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The pelagic goby (''Sufflogobius bibarbatus''), also known as the bearded 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 true goby from 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 ...
, native to the southeastern
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. It is currently the only known member of its
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
.


Description

It reaches a maximum length of . It has 7
dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...
spines and 12–13 dorsal soft rays. It has a single anal spine and 12–13 anal soft rays. Its fins are dusky to black in color.


Range and habitat

This
goby The Gobioidei are a suborder of percomorph fish. Many of these fishes are called gobies. It is by far the largest and most diverse order within the order Gobiiformes, and one of the most diverse groups of ray-finned fish in general. The subord ...
is
demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer o ...
, inhabiting depths of in subtropical waters ranging from in the coastal waters of
Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...
and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The bearded goby is usually found offshore but was also recorded in shore pools. Juveniles are
epipelagic The photic zone (or euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone) is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological ...
, while adults migrate to deeper waters, and large adults are only recorded from demersal trawls. The gobies can stay on the ocean floor for at least 10 to 12 hours at a time in an area of de-oxygenated "toxic sludge" rich in
hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist ...
where hardly anything lives except
bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
and
nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...
s. When settled on the bottom, they remain alert, showing rapid escape responses. They use the toxic mud as a refuge. Their population is growing despite the fact that they are now the main prey species in this unusual ecosystem.


Feeding

In 2010 was observed to feed on a species of jellyfish which was understood to be its main predator. Jellies provide up to 1/3 of the fish's diet. It hides from
mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...
amongst the jellies' stinger-covered
tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
s when it rises from the seafloor for nighttime feeding.


Predation

Fishes,
penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
s, Cape
cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...
s, crested terns and
fur seals Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family Otariidae. They are much more closely related to sea lions than true seals, and share with them external ears ( pinnae), relatively long a ...
and jellies eat this fish. This goby hides from predators within jelly tentacles when it rises to feed and reoxygenate its blood. Although targeted by purse seines, it may also be caught incidentally in trawls.


References

* Fish of South Africa Gobiinae Fish described in 1923 {{Gobiidae-stub