Coryphopterus personatus explained

Coryphopterus personatus, commonly referred to as the masked goby, is a marine species of goby found in the western-central Atlantic Ocean.[1]

C. personatus is a cryptobenthic species, living in caves and shaded areas near the sea floor in reef communities. Masked gobies are sequential hermaphrodites and are capable of changing sexes.[2]

Description

This species reaches a maximum length of 4cm (02inches). This species is difficult to differentiate from the closely-related C. hyalinus. C. personatus has a dark "mask" on its face, a faint dusky stripe on the lower rear margin of the body, and a translucent patch on the center of the top of its head. C. personatus is also slightly larger than C. hyalinus, which only reaches 3 cm (1.2 in).[3]

Notes and References

  1. Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p
  2. Allsop . David . West . Stuart . 2004 . Sex allocation in the sex-changing marine goby, Coryphopterus personatus, on atoll-fringing reefs . Evolutionary Ecology Research . 6 . 843–855.
  3. Web site: Coryphopterus personatus . 2024-06-02 . Reef Life Survey Reef Species of the World . en.