Lotilia klausewitzi
A 2cm goby paired with a blind shrimp, uncommon but findable on sandy patches across the Visayas, Philippines, year-round.
A tiny goby, barely 2cm, with a pale grey-white body scattered with fine blue-white spots and a dark smudge near the tail base. It hovers low over sand, fins constantly flicking, always positioned right at the mouth of a burrow. Look for the paired antennae of a shrimp poking out of the same hole, since this goby rarely appears without its partner shrimp in tow.
Spends its time hovering just above a shared burrow entrance on sand or rubble flats, darting down at the first hint of a diver's shadow or sudden movement. It shares the burrow with a partner shrimp that maintains the tunnel while the goby keeps watch, a classic shrimp-goby partnership. Slow, low approaches and patience are rewarded since it re-emerges quickly once it decides you're not a threat.
It lives in an obligate partnership with a burrowing shrimp: the near-blind shrimp digs and maintains the shared tunnel while the goby stands guard outside and signals danger with a flick of its tail, letting both retreat together.
No clear season shows up in the sighting data, and the water it's found in runs a warm 25.7 to 31.7C, consistent with year-round tropical reef conditions. Treat it as a possible find on any dive, any month, at the right sites.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
This one is best known from the Visayas region of the Philippines, where all logged sightings so far come from a handful of sandy dive sites. It hasn't turned up in the wider sighting data outside the Philippines yet, so if you want a real shot at it, start there.
Mapping where Dancer Shrimp Goby is logged…
Sightings so far are concentrated in the Visayas region of the Philippines, on sandy dive sites where it shares a burrow with a partner shrimp. It hasn't been widely logged outside this area yet.
There's no detected seasonal pattern, and it's found in warm water year-round, so any month at the right sandy sites gives you a chance.
Look for a very small, pale grey-white goby with fine blue-white spots, hovering right at the entrance of a burrow it shares with a shrimp. Its tiny size and constant fin-flicking near a sand hole are the giveaways.
They stay tiny, reaching only around 2cm as adults, making them one of the smaller shrimp gobies divers photograph.
It lives in a permanent partnership with a burrowing shrimp: the shrimp digs and maintains the shared tunnel while the goby acts as lookout, flicking its tail to warn both of them when a diver gets close.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Slender Goby
803 sites
