Monday, December 24, 2012

Freshwater Gobies of Fiji


http://d2cdm2jef6kgc7.cloudfront.net/stamps/2007/FJ/FJ006.07.jpgFreshwater streams and rivers within Fiji and the wider Indo-Pacific are inhabited by the agile and often beautiful fishes from family Gobiidae.

Pay tribute to  this species, Fiji post issued a set of four stamps feature Sicyopterus lagocephalus, Stiphodon rutilaurens, Sicyopus  zosterophorum , Stiphodon sp on April 5, 2007.

The 20 c stamp represent Sicyopterus lagocephalus species. Sicyopterus lagocephalus is known from the Comoro Islands, Mascarene Islands, Sri Lanka and western of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean, and from Indonesia to the Society Islands and japan to Australia, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and now Fiji in the Pacific.

Sicyopterus lagocephalus is almost always found in moderate flowing to very swift clear streams with boulder-strewn bottoms often also with smaller gravel, sand and minimum silt. It will be reach a maximum size of about 13 cm.  This species appears the most tolerant to a range water qualities and is also widest ranging of Fijian Sicydiinae.

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Stiphodon rutilaurens is truly Melanesian species ranging from the northern slopes of New Guinea, Bismarck  Archipelago, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and now eastward to Fiji. This species found in clear streams on all of the high islands.

Stiphodon rutilaurens is relatively small and tends to stick to the gravel feeding primarily on algae and reaching a maximum size of about 3 cm.



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Sicyopus  zosterophorum is most commonly found in fast moving, high gradient streams with rocky and boulder substrate.





This species is native from Nias island, Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean to southern Japan, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. This species reaches a maximum size of about 5 cm.



http://d2cdm2jef6kgc7.cloudfront.net/stamps/2007/FJ/FJ009.07.jpg
Stiphodon sp. is a beautiful new species of goby discovered in Fiji by biologists from Wetlands International-Oceania and University of the South Pacific in 2003.


 

This species reaches a maximum size of around 4 cm. It has been collected on all largest islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni, and Kadayu.

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