Amblyeleotris steinitzi
Pale, spotted goby hovering over its burrow with a shrimp partner. Uncommon but reliable in Egypt's Red Sea Riviera and the Philippine Visayas.
A slender, pale grey to sandy-coloured goby around 9 cm long, marked with a row of dark brown to olive saddle-shaped blotches along its back and sides. It holds a distinctive upright hover just above its burrow entrance, tail flicking, ready to drop in tail-first at the slightest disturbance. Look for the fine speckling on the head and the way it never strays far from the hole it shares with its shrimp partner.
Spend most of a dive parked at the mouth of a sandy burrow, propped up on its pectoral fins and scanning the water rather than actively swimming around. It shares its burrow with a partner shrimp that keeps the tunnel clear while the goby stands guard, and the pair will vanish underground the instant a diver gets too close or moves too fast. Patient, slow approaches from a bit of distance give the best chance of watching it settle back into view.
It lives in a real partnership with a burrowing shrimp: the shrimp digs and maintains the shared tunnel while the goby, with far better eyesight, watches for predators and flicks its tail to warn the shrimp when it is time to retreat.
No clear season shows up in the sightings data, and its comfort range of roughly 25 to 29 C covers most tropical reef conditions year-round, so any month is fair game at these sites.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most reliably logged in Egypt, especially along the Red Sea Riviera and South Sinai, and in the Philippines' Visayas region. It also turns up with fair regularity in Guam's Apra Harbor, Phuket in Thailand, Viti Levu in Fiji, and Atauro Island in Timor-Leste, with smaller numbers reported from Raja Ampat in Indonesia.
Mapping where Steinitz' Shrimp Goby is logged…
Egypt is the strongest area, particularly the Red Sea Riviera and South Sinai, followed by the Visayas in the Philippines. It's also findable in Guam, Phuket, Fiji's Viti Levu, and Atauro Island in Timor-Leste.
There's no strong seasonal pattern in sightings, and its preferred water temperature of about 25 to 29 C is met on tropical reefs throughout the year, so it's a year-round sighting rather than a seasonal one.
Look for a pale, sandy-grey goby about 9 cm long with dark saddle-shaped blotches down its back, hovering upright at the entrance of a sand burrow. It rarely strays from the hole and darts inside quickly when approached.
They reach around 9 cm in length, a small, slender goby that's easy to miss unless you're specifically scanning sandy patches near reef edges for burrow entrances.
Steinitz' Shrimp Goby shares its burrow with a burrowing shrimp that digs and maintains the tunnel while the goby stands guard outside, using its sharper eyesight to watch for predators. A flick of the goby's tail signals the shrimp to duck back underground.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Slender Goby
803 sites
