Gobiodon reticulatus Playfair, 1867

Hildebrandt, Courtney A., Froehlich, Catheline Y. M., Klanten, O. Selma & Wong, Marian Y. L., 2025, Goby spotting: An updated guide to coral gobies (Genus: Gobiodon) in the Indo-Pacific Region, Zootaxa 5723 (2), pp. 151-188 : 173

Gobiodon reticulatus Playfair, 1867 : Reticulate Coralgoby

Synonyms or described as: No recorded synonyms.

Description: Gobiodon reticulatus is orange to brown in base colouration with multiple distinguishing markings adorning the body. The facial region has several pale, sometimes blueish, lines visible, extending from above the orbital area, through the cheek to the suborbital area ( Figure 24 ). These lines are sometimes margined with an orange-red colour. Not all the lines must extend the full length, but typically at least five running the majority of the body depth are visible. From the pectoral fin margin to the caudal fin is covered with small pale dots. A pale line can also be observed along the base of the dorsal fins and anal fin, sometimes margined with a darker orange red. Fins can range from slightly lighter than the body colour to numerous shades darker.

Distribution: Gobiodon reticulatus is typically observed inhabiting corals in deeper waters up to 30m in depth on the reef slope and fore reef regions within the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman ( Dirnwöber and Herler, 2007; Herler, Bogorodsky and Suzuki, 2013) and in the western Indian Ocean (GBIF.Org, 2024).

Habitat: The species has been observed inhabiting a few different corals in genus Acropora , most notably the bushy corymbose corals A. loripes , A. squarrosa ( Ehrenberg, 1834) and A. samoensis ( Dirnwöber and Herler, 2007) .

Status: The IUCN Red List status for this species is ‘Vulnerable’ ( Larson, 2020i) .

Sociality: No known descriptions of sociality currently exist for this species.

Genetics: Gobiodon reticulatus has been included in two genetic analyses, though the closest related species varies by study as not all species within the clade were included in both studies. Depending on the analysis, the closest related species is either only G. irregularis ( Herler, Bogorodsky and Suzuki, 2013) or both G. irregularis and G. oculolineatus ( Duchene et al., 2013) . Further genetic testing of this clade will be required to confirm the closest genetic relative. Other members of the clade G. reticulatus belongs to include G. quinquestrigatus , G. rivulatus , G. irregularis , G. spadix and G. bilineatus .

Figures

FIGURE 24. LEFT: Illustration of Gobiodon reticulatus by C. Hildebrandt. RIGHT: Photograph of collected Gobiodon reticulatus by V. N. Peinemann in the Red Sea.