Amblyeleotris is a genus of fish in the family Gobiidae found throughout the Indo-Pacific region. This is the largest genus of the shrimp gobies or prawn gobies, so-called because of their symbiotic relationship with certain alpheid shrimps. The shrimp excavates and maintains a burrow used by both animals while the goby, which has far superior eyesight, acts as a lookout for predators. The shrimp maintains almost constant contact with the fish with an antenna. Fossil Amblyeleotris otoliths have been found together with alpheid shrimp remnants from as early as late early Miocene (Burdigalian) suggesting a possible mutualistic association since then.
The species of Amblyeleotris vary considerably in size from less than to almost standard length.
Species
There are currently 38 recognized species in this genus:
- Amblyeleotris arcupinna <small>Mohlmann & Munday, 1999</small> (Arc-fin shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris aurora <small>(Polunin & Lubbock, 1977)</small> (Pink-bar prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris bellicauda <small>J. E. Randall, 2004</small>
- Amblyeleotris biguttata <small>J. E. Randall, 2004</small> (Twin-spot shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris bleekeri <small>I. S. Chen, K. T. Shao & J. P. Chen, 2006</small>
- Amblyeleotris callopareia <small>Polunin & Lubbock, 1979</small> (Beautiful-cheek shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris cephalotaenia <small>(Y. Ni, 1989)</small>
- Amblyeleotris delicatulus <small>J. L. B. Smith, 1958</small>
- Amblyeleotris diagonalis <small>Polunin & Lubbock, 1979</small> (Diagonal shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris downingi <small>J. E. Randall, 1994</small> (Downing's shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris ellipse <small>J. E. Randall, 2004</small>
- Amblyeleotris fasciata <small>(Herre, 1953)</small> (Red-banded prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris fontanesii <small>(Bleeker, 1853)</small> (Giant prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris guttata <small>(Fowler, 1938)</small> (Spotted prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris gymnocephala <small>(Bleeker, 1853)</small> (Masked shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris harrisorum <small>Mohlmann & J. E. Randall, 2002</small>
- Amblyeleotris japonica <small>Takagi, 1957</small>
- Amblyeleotris kireedam <small>Carolin, Bajpai, Maurya & Schwarzhans, 2022</small> (otolith based fossil species)
- Amblyeleotris latifasciata <small>Polunin & Lubbock, 1979</small> (Wide-barred shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris macronema <small>Polunin & Lubbock, 1979</small> (Long-spine shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris marquesas <small>Mohlmann & J. E. Randall, 2002</small>
- Amblyeleotris masuii <small>Aonuma & Yoshino, 1996</small> (Masui's shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris melanocephala <small>Aonuma, Iwata & Yoshino, 2000</small> (Black-head shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris memnonia <small>Prokofiev, 2016</small>
- Amblyeleotris morishitai <small>Senou & Aonuma, 2007</small>
- Amblyeleotris neglecta <small>Jaafar & J. E. Randall, 2009</small>
- Amblyeleotris novaecaledoniae <small>Goren, 1981</small>
- Amblyeleotris ogasawarensis <small>Yanagisawa, 1978</small> (Red-spotted shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris periophthalma <small>(Bleeker, 1853)</small> (Broad-banded shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris randalli <small>Hoese & Steene, 1978</small> (Randall's prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris rhyax <small>Polunin & Lubbock, 1979</small> (Volcano shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris rubrimarginata <small>Mohlmann & J. E. Randall, 2002</small> (Red-margin shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris steinitzi <small>(Klausewitz, 1974)</small> (Steinitz' prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris stenotaeniata <small>J. E. Randall, 2004</small>
- Amblyeleotris sungami <small>(Klausewitz, 1969)</small> (Magnus' prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris taipinensis <small>I. S. Chen, K. T. Shao & J. P. Chen, 2006</small>
- Amblyeleotris triguttata <small>J. E. Randall, 1994</small> (Triple-spot shrimpgoby)
- Amblyeleotris wheeleri <small>(Polunin & Lubbock, 1977)</small> (Gorgeous prawngoby)
- Amblyeleotris yanoi <small>Aonuma & Yoshino, 1996</small> (Flag-tail shrimpgoby)
References