Brachygobius
| Brachygobius | |
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| Bumblebee Fish (B. xanthozonus) | |
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Brachygobius
Bleeker, 1874
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| Type species | |
| Gobius doriae Günther, 1868
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Brachygobius is a small genus of gobies. They are popular aquarium fish where a number of species are sold as bumblebee gobies because their colours are similar to those of bumblebees.[1]
Morphology
Bumblebee gobies range in size from 1.5 cm to 4 cm.[2] They are generally coloured black with pale yellow to orange bands.[3] Males are generally slimmer than females and often have more vivid colours, typically orange rather than yellow.[3] Females may also have smaller and rounder heads.[2] When spawning, the colours of the males become deeper, the orange bands becoming red in the case of Brachygobius doriae.[2]
Taxonomy
This genus is informally divided by taxonomists into the dwarf Brachygobius nunus-species group (e.g., B. nunus, B. aggregatus, and B. mekongensis) and the bigger Brachygobius doriae-species group (e.g., B. doriae, B. sabanus, and B. xanthomelas).[2]
Species
There are currently nine recognized species in this genus:[4]
- Brachygobius aggregatus Herre, 1940 (Schooling bumblebee goby)
- Brachygobius doriae (Günther, 1868)
- Brachygobius kabiliensis Inger, 1958 (Kabili bumblebee goby)
- Brachygobius mekongensis Larson & Vidthayanon, 2000
- Brachygobius nunus (F. Hamilton, 1822)
- Brachygobius sabanus Inger, 1958
- Brachygobius sua (H. M. Smith, 1931) (Bumblebee goby)
- Brachygobius xanthomelas Herre, 1937
- Brachygobius xanthozonus (Bleeker, 1849) (Bumblebee fish)
Ecology
Bumblebee gobies are found across Southern and Southeast Asia primarily in freshwater habitats but also in slightly brackish waters.[2][3]
Reproduction
These gobies are oviparous. Eggs are deposited in a cave where they are guarded by the male.[3] Clutch size is around 150-200 eggs.[5] The eggs hatch after around seven days and the fry become free swimming another five to seven days later.[3]
In the aquarium
Bumblebee gobies are popular aquarium fish.[5] A tank around 40 liters in size will house a dozen specimens comfortably. Under good conditions they can live in an aquarium for around 5 years.[3] The most commonly traded species in the hobby belong to the Brachygobius doriae-species group but the smaller Brachygobius nunus is also traded occasionally.[2][3] Although many aquarium books use the name Brachygobius xanthozona, this species is very rare in the wild and is not commercially traded.[3]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Schäfer F: Brackish Water Fishes, pp 49-51, Aqualog 2005, ISBN 3-936027-82-X
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Naomi Delventhal in Monks, Neale (2006): Brackish Water Fishes, pp 131-132, TFH Publishing. ISBN 0-7938-0564-3
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). Species of Brachygobius in FishBase. April 2013 version.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Riehl R. & Baensch H: Aquarium Atlas (vol. 1), pp 836-837, Voyageur Press, 1996, ISBN 3-88244-050-3
