Gobiodon aoyagii Shibukawa, Suzuki & Aizawa, 2013

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 : 155-156

Gobiodon aoyagii Shibukawa, Suzuki & Aizawa, 2013 : Japanese name ‘Akaten koban-haze’ and previously recorded as Gobiodon sp. A

Synonyms or described as: Gobiodon sp. A ( Munday, Harold and Winterbottom, 1999).

Description: Gobiodon aoyagii was described in 2013, where the species was clearly distinguished from morphologically similar congeners G. erythrospilus and G. histrio ( Shibukawa, Suzuki and Aizawa, 2013) . Gobiodon aoyagii is described as a yellow green to light blue coloured coralgoby that has red-scarlet spots across the entirety of the body ( Figure 3 ). There are frequently two spots at the base of the pectoral fin on the dorso-ventral surface ( Shibukawa, Suzuki and Aizawa, 2013), however these can be conjoined as seen in Figure 3 . Additionally, three distinct spots can be observed on the posterior dorsal area prior to the caudal fin ( Shibukawa, Suzuki and Aizawa, 2013). Some spots on the facial area may appear slightly fused to form small irregular bars but are never complete bars as seen in G. histrio and G. erythrospilus ( Shibukawa, Suzuki and Aizawa, 2013) . Fins are lighter in colour, often yellow, and a fine black fin margin may be present. Unlike G. histrio , there is no black spot on the upper opercular margin.

Distribution: Gobiodon aoyagii has been observed on reefs throughout the western Pacific Ocean, from the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia ( Shibukawa, Suzuki and Aizawa, 2013; GBIF.Org, 2024). A specimen has been collected from the eastern Indian Ocean, once thought to be a syntype of G. erythrospilus ( Shibukawa et al., 2013) .

Habitat: It has been observed occupying numerous corals from genus Acropora , but it is more limited in the southern Pacific Ocean where it is restricted primarily to Acropora tenuis, ( Dana, 1846) , a corymbose clumping coral ( Munday, Harold and Winterbottom, 1999; Munday, Van Herwerden and Dudgeon, 2004; Shibukawa, Suzuki and Aizawa, 2013). Gobiodon aoyagii has displayed a preference for deeper water corals and/or protected areas, e.g. lagoons, reef edges and reef slopes between 3–10m depth ( Shibukawa et al., 2013).

Status: Gobiodon aoyagii was designated ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List ( Larson, 2020b).

Sociality: The species is primarily ‘pair forming’ (mean group size: 1.80, SI: 0.33) (Hing, 2019; Froehlich et al., 2024).

Genetics: Whilst G. aoyagii shares a similar colouration to G. erythrospilus and G. histrio , this species is in a separate clade. The phylogenetic sister species of G. aoyagii is G. bicalvolineatus ( Duchene et al., 2013) . This clade also includes G. brochus and G. cobenjaminsis ( Harold et al., 2008; Duchene et al., 2013; Hing et al., 2019). The phylogenetic location of G. aoyagii is known to change if fewer genetic markers are used for analysis, as seen in Herler et al. (2013), where the species was placed in an isolated sub-clade with their closest neighbour G. bicalvolineatus . Gobiodon aoyagii was also included in a haplotype analysis focusing on G. bicalvolineatus ( Munday, Van Herwerden and Dudgeon, 2004) . Whilst G. aoyagii displayed a reduced number of haplotypes when compared to G. brochus , G. erythrospilus and G. histrio , it displayed more genetic diversity compared with G. bicalvolineatus ( Munday, Van Herwerden and Dudgeon, 2004) .

Notes: Prior to the official description, the species was referred to by numerous unofficial labels, such as Gobiodon sp. A (see Shibukawa et al., 2013 for more details).

Figures

FIGURE 3. LEFT: Illustration of Gobiodon aoyagii by C. Hildebrandt. RIGHT: Underwater photograph of a collected Gobiodon aoyagii by C. Froehlich at Lizard Island, GBR.