About Ctenogobiops crocineus Smith, 1959
Ctenogobiops tangaroai, commonly called the silver-spotted shrimp-goby, is a species of bony fish belonging to the family Gobiidae. This species is native to reef environments and is widely distributed across the Indo-West Pacific, ranging from the Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean, through northern Australia and Taiwan, to southern Japan and Fiji.
It lives on fine-grained sand patches at depths between 4 and 40 metres (13 to 131 feet), where it has a commensal relationship with alpheid shrimps: the goby and the shrimp share a single burrow. This species grows to a maximum total length of 6 centimetres (2.4 inches), and individuals are sold in the aquarium trade.
In terms of colouration, Ctenogobiops tangaroai is a pale fish marked with four rows of brown spots or dashes running along its flanks. There are three diagonal rows of short dark stripes on the back of its head. It has larger dark spots on its lower flanks, which are often surrounded by smaller blue spots. A small white stripe sits above the base of the pectoral fin, and a longer white streak appears on the pectoral fin itself. It is the designated type species of the genus Ctenogobiops.
