Corcyrogobius liechtensteini
A pinhead-sized goby found on rocky reefs in the French Riviera, easy to miss at 14.6 to 20.6 C water temps year-round.
Barely a centimetre long and easy to swim straight past, this goby has a slender, translucent to pale grey body with faint darker mottling along the flanks. It perches motionless on rock or rubble rather than swimming in open water, propped on its pelvic fins in typical goby fashion. There is no strong colour pattern to key on, so size and posture on the substrate are the main giveaways.
Divers find it sitting still on rocky substrate rather than actively foraging or patrolling, which fits its rare-to-uncommon logging rate at most sites. It is not shy so much as simply hard to spot given its size, and there is no record of it reacting defensively or fleeing divers who get close. Look low on rock walls and rubble patches rather than in open water or on sand.
At around a centimetre long, this is one of the smallest fish a Mediterranean diver is likely to log, and most sightings come from divers deliberately scanning rock crevices rather than spotting it by chance.
Sightings show no clear seasonal pattern, and with a water-temperature niche spanning 14.6 to 20.6 C it seems tolerant of both cooler and warmer parts of the Mediterranean year, so any month is worth a look.
Every logged sighting so far comes from France, concentrated in the French Riviera and Provence region, making this stretch of Mediterranean coast the place to look. It has not been reported in meaningful numbers anywhere else, so treat southern France as the only reliable region for this species.
Mapping where Liechtenstein's Goby is logged…
All confirmed sightings come from France, with the French Riviera and Provence the only region showing a reliable pattern of logs. It has not been recorded as a dependable find elsewhere.
There is no detected seasonal pattern, and it has been logged across a water-temperature range of 14.6 to 20.6 C, so it appears to be present year-round rather than tied to a specific season.
Look for a pale, slender fish barely a centimetre long perched motionless on rock or rubble rather than swimming freely. It lacks bold markings, so its tiny size and stationary posture on the substrate are the best clues.
They top out at around 1 cm, making them one of the smallest fish species a diver can realistically log on a Mediterranean rock reef.
No. It poses no risk to divers and has no defensive behaviours of note; the main challenge is spotting it at all.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Slender Goby
803 sites
