Chriolepis cf. fischeri

Smith-Vaniz, William F. & Jelks, Howard L., 2014, Marine and inland fishes of St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands: an annotated checklist, Zootaxa 3803 (1), pp. 1-120 : 76-77

* Chriolepis cf. fischeri

Justification: UF 164707 (1, 12 mm SL), BIRNM .

Distribution: Extralimital distribution unknown (see remarks) but undoubtedly a Caribbean endemic.

Remarks: Hastings and Bortone (1981) and Hastings and Findley (2013) discuss western Atlantic seven-spined gobies that have been variously assigned to Chriolepis Gilbert or Varicus Robins and Böhlke. The above specimen is in good condition and appears to be an undescribed species. This diminutive specimen has some of its pelvic fin rays branched; strongly depressed head, like C. fisheri Herre ; lacks head pores; dorsal fin VII, 10; anal fin I, 9; vertebrae 11+16; first two anal pterygiophores anterior to first haemal spine; bilobed tongue; and body apparently naked (some scales near base of caudal fin perhaps missing).

Coryphopterus alloides Böhlke and Robins 1968 — Barfin Goby

Justification: UF 164725 (1, 21.0 mm SL); BIRNM; Listed as "occasional" by Clavijo et al. (1980:26). Distribution: WA (FL, BA, GA, VI, WC).

* Coryphopterus dicrus Böhlke and Robins 1968 — Colon Goby, Fig. 19E

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 40).

Distribution: WA (FL, GOM, BA, GA, VI, LA, WC, nSA, sSA).

* Coryphopterus eidolon Böhlke and Robins 1968 — Pallid Goby

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 10).

Distribution: WA (FL, GOM, BA, GA, VI, LA, WC, nSA, sSA).

Coryphopterus hyalinus Böhlke and Robins 1962 — Glass Goby

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 4).

Distribution: WA (BD, FL, BA, GA, WC, nSA).

Coryphopterus lipernes Böhlke and Robins 1962 — Peppermint Goby

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 3); AMNH 225031 (1); AMNH 225034 (1); observed during Frederiksted reefsystem censuses ( Toller, 2007:51).

Distribution: WA (FL, BA, GA,VI, WC, nSA).

Coryphopterus personatus (Jordan and Thompson 1905) — Masked Goby

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 17).

Distribution: WA (BD, FL, BA, GA, VI, LA, WC, nSA).

* Coryphopterus thrix Böhlke and Robins 1962 — Bartail Goby

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 18).

Distribution: WA (FL, GOM, BA, GA, VI, WC, nSA, sSA).

* Coryphopterus tortugae (Jordan 1904) — Sand Goby, Figs. 19 F-G Listed as Coryphopterus glaucofraenum and "common" by Clavijo (1980:26) and Smith-Vaniz et al. (2006).

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 51); UF 180983 (3, 16‒32 mm SL), Christiansted Harbor , Long Reef ; UF 183269 (13, 16–32 mm SL), Spring Bay ; UF 183585 (1, 24 mm SL), Butler Bay .

Distribution: WA (BD, FL, BA, GA, VI, LA, WC, nSA).

Remarks: Clavijo et al. (1980) recorded Coryphopterus glaucofraenum as "common" as did Smith-Vaniz et al. (2006:40). The latter authors noted that all their material from Buck Island Reef National Monument had the pigmentation characteristics of C. tortugae , which they and many previous authors had considered to be a junior synonym. Garzón-Ferreira & Acero (1990) resurrected Coryphopterus tortugae from synonymy with C. glaucofraenum based on color pattern of preserved specimens, and Victor (2008) was able to distinguish them using CO1 sequence data. More recently ( Baldwin et al. (2010) used both fresh color pattern and molecular characters to differentiate these two species plus C. venezuelae (= C. bol of Victor). Coryphopterus tortugae is a more insular or offshore species while C. glaucofraeum typically occurs in inshore inhabits, and they are rarely taken together in the same collection. Both species (and C. venezuelae ) can be easily misidentified without reference to Baldwin et al. (2010). Adults of Coryphopterus glaucofaeum typically have the dark marking above the opercle with two peaks (usually a single triangle in C. tortugae ) and the body with a lower row of large, distinctive X-shaped markings (mostly vertically elongate making in C. tortugae ). There are no confirmed records of C. glaucofraeum from St. Croix.

* Coryphopterus venezuelae Cervigón 1966 . — Venezuela Goby, Figs. 19 H-I

Justification: UF 180994 (1, 39.8 mm SL), Frederiksted Pier ; UF 183247 (7, 21–35 mm SL), Coakley Bay ; UF 183581 (1, 35 mm SL) Christiansted Harbor , Long Reef .

Distribution: Victor (2008) and Baldwin et al. (2010) WA (BA, GA, VI, WC, nSA).

Remarks: See above remarks for C. tortugae . Coryphopterus venezuelae differs from C. tortugae (and C. glaucofraenum ) most notably in having a dark spot or blotch (orange-yellow in life) ventrally on the pectoralfin base. We follow Baldwin et al. (2010) in treating Coryphopterus bol Victor as a synonym of C. venezuelae .

* Ctenogobius boleosoma (Jordan & Gilbert 1882) — Darter Goby

Possibly listed as Gobionellus spp. by Clavijo et al. (1980:27).

Justification: UF 181003 (1, 21 mm SL), Salt River Bay ; UF 183118 (4, 22–29 mm SL), Great Pond Bay; USNM 106633 (1, 61 mm SL), Fairplain Stream, 1937 [identified by F. Pezold] .

Distribution: WA (FL, GOM, BA, GA, VI, LA, WC, nSA, sSA).

* Ctenogobius saepepallens ( Gilbert and Randall 1968) — Dash Goby, Fig. 20A

Justification: UF (BIRNM, 5); UF 183171 (5, 16–21 mm SL), Spring Bay ; observed in northeastern St. Croix censuses ( Pittman et al., 2008:72) .

Distribution: Gilbert and Randall (1968) WA (FL, BA, GA, VI, LA, WC, nSA, sSA).

Remarks: This goby lives in burrows with snapping shrimp.

Figures

FIGURE 19. (A) Awaous banana, UF 183975, 172 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (B) Bathygobius antilliensis, UF 180969, 50 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (C) Bathygobius lacertrus, UF 183132, 58 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (D) Bathygobius mystacium, UF 183127, 33 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (E) Coryphopterus dicrus, UF 183099, 27 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (F) Coryphopterus tortugae, UF 180983, 26 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (G) Coryphopterus tortugae, UF 183269, 28 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (H) Coryphopterus venezuelae, UF 1835581, 35 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (I) Coryphopterus venezuelae, UF 180944, 40 mm SL, H. L. Jelks.

FIGURE 20. (A) Ctenogobius saepepallus, UF 158528, 26 mm SL, L. A. Rocha; (B) Elacatinus chancei, UF 149189, 33 mm SL, L. A. Rocha; (C) Elacatinus evelynae, UF 183263, 22 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (D) Evorthodus lyricus, UF 183022, 41 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (E), Ginsburgellus novemlineatus, UF 183119, 10 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (F), Gnatholepis cauerensis, UF 181036, 29 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (G), Lophogobius cyprinoides, UF 182930, 29 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (H) Lythrypnus crocodilus, UF 149538, 13 mm SL, L. A. Rocha; (I) Lythrypnus elasson, UF 185650, 12 mm SL, H. L. Jelks; (J) Lythrypnus nesiotes, UF 149556, 13 mm SL, L. A. Rocha.