Animalia Life

Bryaninops yongei
FAMILY
Gobiidae
TAXONOMY
Cottogobius yongei Davis and Cohen, 1969, Darvel Bay, west of Tatagan Island, Borneo.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
Japanese: Garasuhaze; Samoan: Mano’o.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Small, reaches about 1.2 in (3 cm) standard length. The preoperculum has a slightly scalloped edge, visible just behind the mouth. Body with scales (26–58 in longitudinal series along the flanks). The pelvics form a small suctorial disk. The head is transparent except for some brownish patches on the sides, a distinct reddish gold stripe that extends dorsally around the snout, and some reddish spots and a band over the top of the head. The eyes are bright golden with reddish rims. The body is transparent, with about six darkish or reddish brown bands on flanks. The ventral part of the body is mottled brown, and there is a large brown or reddish patch at the base of the pectoral fin. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins may be reddish.
DISTRIBUTION
From the Red Sea, to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. More common in the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia east to French Polynesia, north to Hawaii and southern Japan, and south to the Great Barrier Reef.
HABITAT
Apparently restricted to small patches that are widely dispersed. The fish live only on the sea whip (Cirripathes anguina), found on drop offs in strong currents and on sheltered back reefs, from 9.9 to 148 ft (3–45 m) deep.
BEHAVIOR
Small sea whips are occupied by a single immature fish. Larger sea whips are occupied by a male-female pair. Juveniles and a second small female may also be present.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Nothing known.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
The male-female pair on the sea whip are probably monogamous. About 6–8 in (15–20 cm) in from the tip of the sea whip, the fish clear living tissue from the whip in a narrow band about 0.9 in (23 mm) wide, exposing the underlying skeleton. The eggs are attached in a wide band over this “nest.” Individual fish can change sex, apparently either way. The largest female to settle on a whip might become a male and the next largest fish remain a female, thus forming a pair. Fish that lose their mates might revert to a bisexual state, allowing them to mate with any fish of either sex that subsequently settles on the sea whip.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Found in the aquarium trade, but not common.

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