Red-speckled Dwarfgoby

Description

Body is greyish semi-translucent speckled with small red spots, with a white internal stripe above the vertebral column interrupted by red dashes, an orange-red blotch on the gill cover, orange red and bluish spots and dashes on the head, and about six bars on the upper iris. Anal fin and lower half of caudal fin are dark. Scattered melanophores  are behind eyes on nape. When alive, small red dots cover the body. It is characterized further by longitudinal scale series 25; ctenoid scales, none on head, nape, breast and pectoral fin base; depth of body 4.7-5.6 in SL. Dorsal spines (total): 7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 8. This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: dorsal/anal fin-ray formula 9/8; pectoral fin rays 16-19 (mean 18), 5-6 lower rays branched; cephalic sensory-pore system pattern I (complete); fifth segmented pelvic-fin ray 11.5-22% of fourth; branches on fourth pelvic-fin ray 5-7, 3 segments between branches; non-fimbriate genital papilla; dorsal fin filamentous (to 36.9% SL).

Distribution

Indo-West Pacific: Christmas Island (Indian Ocean), Indonesia (Flores, Alor, West Papua), Papua New Guinea (D'Entrecasteaux Islands and New Britain), Solomon Islands.

Habitat

It inhabits sand-rubble bottoms among reefs in 4-28 m.