Sleeper gobies (Eleotridae)
Image source: Jo's Animal Database
General data
- Main name: Sleeper gobies
Classification
- Order: Gobiiformes - Gobies
- Class: Teleostei - Ray-finned fishes
- Superclass: Osteichthyes - Bony fishes
Description
Eleotridae is a family of fish commonly known as sleeper gobies, with about 34 genera and 180 species.[1] Most species are found in the tropical Indo-Pacific region, but there are also species in subtropical and temperate regions, warmer parts of the Americas and near the Atlantic coast in Africa. Like the true gobies, they are generally small fish that live on the substrate, often amongst vegetation, in burrows, or in crevices within rocks and coral reefs. Although goby-like in many ways, sleeper gobies lack the pelvic fin sucker and that, together with other morphological differences, is used to distinguish the two families. The Gobiidae and Eleotridae likely share a common ancestor and they are both placed in the order Gobiiformes, along with a few other small families containing goby-like fishes.