--- title: Gobies (Gobiidae) scientific_name: Gobiidae common_name: Gobies rank: Family published: 2024-11-19T18:41:51.573Z updated: 2026-08-23T21:28:59.881Z tags: Gobies, Gobiidae, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies --- # Gobies (*Gobiidae*) ## Quick facts - **Rank:** Family - **Scientific name:** Gobiidae - **Body shape:** Bottom-dwelling - Stocky, big-headed, sits on the reef or sand rather than swims - scorpionfishes, groupers, gobies. - **Species listed here:** 54 ## How to recognise this group - small size, typically under 10 cm - often resting motionless on the substrate - two separate dorsal fins - elongate body - pelvic fins often fused into a ventral disc No family of marine fish has more species in it. More than two thousand gobies have been described, and the number moves every year, which is what happens to a group of animals that are small, sedentary and easily cut off from each other: a population on one patch of rubble does not mix much with the population on the next one, and given enough time it stops being the same fish. The equipment that made that possible is under the chin. In a goby the two pelvic fins are fused into a shallow cup, and the cup works as a suction disc. Most of the family has also given up the swim bladder, so a goby does not hover; it holds on. That one change turns surfaces into addresses. A coral branch, the stem of a sea whip, the inside of a sponge, the roof of a cave, wave-hammered rock in the first meter of water: a goby can be stuck to any of them, in current that would roll an ordinary fish off the bottom. Being small is the other half of it. A goby fits into spaces that are not habitat for anything else - a burrow dug and maintained by a snapping shrimp, the gap between the branches of one coral head it will never leave - and that is a whole living nobody else can take. The price is a short life at the bottom of the food chain, and the family answers by maturing early and breeding often. Fifty-four species are listed here, and a diver notices perhaps three of them. The one everybody meets is a shrimpgoby posted at its burrow mouth on open sand, propped on its fins, dropping out of sight as you close the last meter. The rest are on the underside of things. ## Species (54) - [Anomolous Goby (Coryogalops anomolus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/anomolous-goby) - [Arabian Goby (Cryptocentroides arabicus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/arabian-goby) - [Black Coral Goby (Bryaninops tigris)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/black-coral-goby) - [Broad-Barred Goby (Gobiodon histrio)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/broad-barred-goby) - [Brown-Red Coralgoby (Gobiodon fuscoruber)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/brown-red-coralgoby) - [Butterfly Goby (Amblygobius albimaculatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/butterfly-goby) - [Common Mudskipper (Periophthalmus kalolo)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/common-mudskipper) - [Common Sandgoby (Fusigobius neophytus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/common-sandgoby) - [Diagonal Shrimpgoby (Amblyeleotris diagonalis)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/diagonal-shrimpgoby) - [Dusky Frillgoby (Bathygobius fuscus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/dusky-frillgoby) - [Elongate Coralgoby (Gobiodon prolixus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/elongate-coralgoby) - [Eyebar Goby (Gnatholepis anjerensis)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/eyebar-goby) - [Flagfin Shrimpgoby (Mahidolia mystacina)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/flagfin-shrimpgoby) - [Giant Goby (Gobius cobitis)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/giant-goby) - [Gorgeous Shrimpgoby (Amblyeleotris wheeleri)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/gorgeous-shrimpgoby) - [Horned Goby (Cerogobius petrophilus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/horned-goby) - [Large Sandgoby (Fusigobius maximus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/large-sandgoby) - [Lemon Coralgoby (Gobiodon citrinus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/lemon-coralgoby) - [Loki Whipgoby (Bryaninops loki)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/loki-whipgoby) - [Luther's Shrimpgoby (Cryptocentrus lutheri)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/luthers-shrimpgoby) - [Magnus' Shrimpgoby (Amblyeleotris sungami)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/magnus-shrimpgoby) - [Mertens' Prawn-goby (Vanderhorstia mertensi)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/mertens-prawn-goby) - [Ninebar Shrimpgoby (Cryptocentrus cryptocentrus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/ninebar-shrimpgoby) - [Nocturn Goby (Amblygobius nocturnus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/nocturn-goby) - [Orange-Spotted Sandgoby (Fusigobius longispinus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/orange-spotted-sandgoby) - [Ornate Prawn-goby (Vanderhorstia ornatissima)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/ornate-prawn-goby) - [Pepperminteye Dwarfgoby (Eviota oculopiperita)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/pepperminteye-dwarfgoby) - [Punyit Dwarfgoby (Eviota punyit)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/punyit-dwarfgoby) - [Red Sea Dwarfgoby (Eviota marerubrum)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/red-sea-dwarfgoby) - [Red Sea Eyebar Goby (Gnatholepis caudimaculata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/red-sea-eyebar-goby) - [Red Sea Shrimpgoby (Cryptocentrus caeruleopunctatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/red-sea-shrimpgoby) - [Redeye Goby (Bryaninops natans)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/redeye-goby) - [Redhead Coral Goby (Paragobiodon echinocephalus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/redhead-coral-goby) - [Reticulate Goby (Gobiodon reticulatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/reticulate-goby) - [Rock Goby (Gobius paganellus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/rock-goby) - [Rubble Dwarfgoby (Eviota prasina)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/rubble-dwarfgoby) - [Sandy Shrimpgoby (Ctenogobiops feroculus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/sandy-shrimpgoby) - [Scarlet Shrimpgoby (Ctenogobiops crocineus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/scarlet-shrimpgoby) - [Shadow Goby (Yongeichthys nebulosus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/shadow-goby) - [Silverlined Mudskipper (Periophthalmus argentilineatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/silverlined-mudskipper) - [Silverspot Shrimpgoby (Ctenogobiops maculosus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/silverspot-shrimpgoby) - [Snoutspot Goby (Amblygobius esakiae)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/snoutspot-goby) - [Spikefin Goby (Discordipinna griessingeri)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/flame-goby) - [Sponge Goby (Bryaninops spongicolus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/sponge-goby) - [Spotted Dwarfgoby (Eviota guttata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/spotted-dwarfgoby) - [Spotted Frillgoby (Bathygobius cyclopterus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/spotted-frillgoby) - [Starry Goby (Asterropteryx semipunctata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/starry-goby) - [Steinhard’s Shrimpgoby (Cryptocentrus steinhardti)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/steinhards-shrimpgoby) - [Steinitz Shrimpgoby (Amblyeleotris steinitzi)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/steinitz-shrimpgoby) - [Triplespot Shrimpgoby (Amblyeleotris triguttata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/triplespot-shrimpgoby) - [Two-Lined Coralgoby (Gobiodon bilineatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/two-lined-coralgoby) - [Whip Coral Goby (Bryaninops yongei)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/whip-coral-goby) - [Whitecap Goby (Lotilia graciliosa)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/whitecap-goby) - [Y-bar shrimp goby (Cryptocentrus fasciatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/y-bar-shrimp-goby) --- *Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies)* *Updated: August 23, 2026*