Common Goby

Fascinating facts about the Common Goby

• A tiny fish that can grow up to just 9 cm (3.5 in) long can live for up to three years.
• From February through September, a male common goby sits on a clutch of eggs tucked under shells or plants and guards them for about nine days until they hatch.
• With 39 to 51 scales lining its side, the common goby’s scales are slightly larger than those of its close relative, the sand goby.
• Living at depths from the surface down to 12 m (0-39 ft), these gobies prefer the shallowest parts of estuaries and brackish lagoons, often sharing the habitat with the sand goby but staying in even shallower water.
• Their menu includes tiny crustaceans, worms, harpacticoids, amphipods, chironomid larvae and mites.

At a glance

About the Common Goby

The common goby (Pomatoschistus microps) is a diminutive ray-finned fish that scarcely exceeds nine centimetres in total length, though most adults hover around four to five centimetres. Its body is a subtle canvas of light grey or sandy brown, brushed with indistinct dark markings and fine striations on pale fins. Two dorsal fins sit close together, the front bearing six to eight spines and the rear eight to eleven soft rays, while the pelvic fins are fused into a single suction disc. Males reveal a conspicuous dark spot on the anterior dorsal fin and darker bases on the pectoral and caudal fins, colors that intensify during the breeding season, turning the whole fish into a richer, more dramatic hue. In the shallow, sandy- or muddy-bottomed estuaries and brackish lagoons that fringe the Atlantic and Baltic coasts, from Norway down to Morocco, Mauritania, and the Canary Islands, this goby darts among the substrate at depths of zero to twelve metres. It feeds on a buffet of tiny crustaceans, worms, harpacticoids, amphipods, chironomid larvae and mites, hunting with the precision of a miniature predator. A surprising trait lies in its reproductive devotion: after laying eggs beneath shells, stones or aquatic plants from February to September, the male guards the clutch until the embryos hatch after about nine days, a paternal vigilance that ensures the next generation of these three-year-old survivors.

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