Valenciennea
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| Valenciennea | ||||||||||||
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 Valenciennea sexguttata
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Valenciennea is a genus of small, bottom-dwelling fish from the family Gobiidae. The members of the genus are commonly known as sleeper gobies. This is because of their tendency to rest directly on the substrate for extended periods of time. While this is a common behavior for members of the family, the Valenciennea also float motionless directly above the substrate, which is why they are sometimes called hover gobies.
The members of this genus are known to be carnivorous sand-sifters; To eat, they simply engulf entire mouthfuls of sand which they expel through their gills. Specialized structures in their gills filter small crustaceans and worms as the sand is expelled. It is this specific trait that makes some members of the genus attractive to the marine aquarist, and they are often introduced into a marine aquarium for sand-sifting.
Some of the species are known to be monogamous.
The genus was named after notable French zoologist Achille Valenciennes. Eleotriodes is a non-valid synonym of this genus.
[edit] Species List
- Valenciennea alleni Hoese & Larson, 1994.
- Valenciennea bella Hoese & Larson, 1994.
- Valenciennea decora Hoese & Larson, 1994.
- Valenciennea helsdingenii Bleeker, 1856. Twostripe goby.
- Valenciennea immaculata Ni, 1981. Red-lined sleeper goby.
- Valenciennea limicola Hoese & Larson, 1994.
- Valenciennea longipinnis Lay & Bennett, 1839. Long-finned goby.
- Valenciennea muralis Valenciennes, 1837. Mural goby.
- Valenciennea parva Hoese & Larson, 1994. Parva goby.
- Valenciennea persica Hoese & Larson, 1994.
- Valenciennea puellaris Tomiyama, 1956. Maiden goby.
- Valenciennea randalli Hoese & Larson, 1994. Greenband goby.
- Valenciennea sexguttata Valenciennes, 1837. Sixspot goby.
- Valenciennea strigata Broussenet, 1782. Type species (as Eleotris strigata). Blueband goby. Commonly known as the yellow-headed sleeper goby. A popular aquarium fish.
- Valenciennea wardii Playfair, 1867. Ward's sleeper goby.
[edit] References
"Valenciennea". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2007 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2007.
Valenciennea (TSN 636591). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 19 January 2007.
