Amblyeleotris diagonalis
Pale, diagonal-barred goby paired with a cleaner shrimp on sandy slopes across Visayas and Luzon, 25-29C year-round.
A small, slender goby around 7 cm long, pale grey to sandy in base colour with a series of dark diagonal bars angled across the upper body, which is the feature that gives it away over similar burrow-dwelling gobies. It holds a raised, alert posture just above its burrow entrance rather than resting flat on the sand. Look for the fine speckling on the head and the way the bars break up into spots towards the tail.
Spends most of its time hovering a few centimetres above a burrow it shares with a cleaner shrimp, ducking down tail-first the instant a diver gets too close or moves too fast. Watch from a slight distance and it will often re-emerge within a minute or two, hovering with its pelvic fins brushing the sand. Most sightings come from sandy patches and rubble slopes on reef, rather than on the reef structure itself.
Like other shrimpgobies, it shares its sand burrow with a partially blind cleaner shrimp that digs and maintains the tunnel while the goby stands guard, flicking its tail to signal danger so both can retreat together.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in the sighting data, and its comfort range of roughly 25 to 29.2C matches tropical reef conditions all year, so any month works in the Philippines and Timor-Leste.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most reliably logged on sandy reef slopes in the Philippines, especially across the Visayas and Luzon, which between them account for the large majority of recorded sightings. Smaller but consistent numbers come from Dili in Timor-Leste, with occasional records from Sulawesi in Indonesia and Queensland in Australia.
Mapping where Diagonal Shrimpgoby is logged…
The Philippines is by far the strongest area, particularly the Visayas and Luzon regions, with further sightings around Dili in Timor-Leste and occasional records in Sulawesi, Indonesia and Queensland, Australia.
There is no strong seasonal pattern in the sightings, and it lives comfortably in 25 to 29.2C water year-round, so it turns up on sandy reef slopes in any month.
Look for a small, pale sand-coloured goby around 7 cm long with dark diagonal bars angled across its upper body, hovering upright just above a burrow entrance rather than lying flat.
They stay small, typically around 7 cm long, which is normal for shrimpgobies and part of why they are easy to miss until you spot the burrow.
It pairs with a cleaner shrimp that digs and keeps the burrow clear while the goby, with better eyesight, watches for danger and flicks its tail as a warning so both retreat together.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Slender Goby
803 sites
