Red Sea Shrimpgoby

The 🌊 Red Sea Shrimpgoby, also known as the Blue-speckled Prawn-goby, Blue-spotted Shrimpgoby, or Harlequin Shrimpgoby, is a reef-associated fish found in the tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific region, from East Africa to the Marianas and up to southern 🇯🇵 Japan. This species typically inhabits shallow lagoons and coastal bays, particularly in areas with water runoffs, at depths ranging from 1 to 30 meters (about 3 to 98 feet).

The 🌊 Red Sea Shrimpgoby can grow up to a maximum length of 10 centimeters (approximately 4 inches). Its appearance is marked by a generally greyish-brown body adorned with irregular greenish-brown bars and narrow pale spaces in between. The fish also features large black spots along its sides in a mid-lateral row and a head that exhibits pink spots. Both the head and body are sprinkled with blue dots. One of its distinctive characteristics is the united pelvic fins, and it has a frenum present. The head lacks scales, and it has a scale series of 56 to 65 longitudinally along the body. The species sports a rounded caudal fin, roughly equal in length to its head.

The dorsal fin of the 🌊 Red Sea Shrimpgoby consists of 6 to 7 spines and 10 soft rays, while the anal fin has 1 spine and 9 soft rays. Its greatest body depth is about 4.3 times smaller than its standard length (SL).

The name “Cryptocentrus” is derived from Greek, where "kryptos" means hidden and "kentron" means sting.