Thorogobius ephippiatus
Spot this shy rock-crevice goby along France's Riviera or Brittany, in 9.7-16.1C water, year-round if you know where to look.
A small, slender goby around 9 cm long, pale pinkish-brown with bold dark brown blotches scattered across its body like leopard spots, giving it its name. It has a rounded head, large dark eyes, and tends to perch motionless on rock rather than swim in open water. No strong sex or juvenile colour difference is documented, so look for the blotch pattern and its habit of hugging vertical rock rather than sand.
Look for it tucked into crevices, overhangs, and shaded rock faces rather than out on open reef, often sitting still with just its head and front half visible. It is not a fish that comes to divers; a slow, careful approach with a torch into dark cracks is usually what turns one up. Most sightings are logged as rare or uncommon even at known sites, so patience and a close look at rocky walls pays off more than open-water scanning.
It is a strict crevice-dweller that rarely strays far from a chosen hole in the rock, which is part of why it is logged as rare at most sites despite a wide range across Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
Sighting data shows no real seasonal pattern, so it is worth looking for year-round; its comfort range of roughly 9.7 to 16.1C matches cool temperate water for most of the year in the Atlantic and Mediterranean sites where it is found.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most reliably logged along France's Riviera and Provence coast and in Brittany, with strong numbers also reported around the UK, especially Northern Ireland, and in Ireland's Kerry coast. Further south it turns up on rocky reefs in Sardinia and Sicily in Italy, the Lisbon Coast in Portugal, and the Ionian Islands in Greece.
Mapping where Leopard-spotted Goby is logged…
It is most commonly logged along France's Riviera and Provence coast and in Brittany, with good numbers also reported in Northern Ireland, Kerry in Ireland, and on rocky sites in Sardinia and Sicily.
There is no clear seasonal pattern in sightings, so it can turn up year-round on cool rocky reefs between roughly 9.7 and 16.1C.
Look for a small, slender goby around 9 cm long with pale brown skin covered in dark leopard-like blotches, usually sitting still in a rock crevice or under an overhang rather than swimming freely.
They are a small species, typically reaching about 9 cm in length, which along with their crevice-hiding habit makes them easy to overlook.
Most divers who log it describe it as rare or uncommon even at sites where it is known to occur, since it hides deep in crevices and needs a careful, close search to find.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Slender Goby
803 sites
