Amoya gracilis

(Bleeker, 1875)

Blue-spotted Mangrovegoby

Much of what follows is drawn from a pair of field-trip photo-essays documenting a series of collecting trips between Cairns and Weipa on Cape York, which turned up an extraordinarily rich cross-section of Australia and New Guinea’s smaller estuarine and mangrove-associated gobies.

A relatively large mangrove goby, reaching around 120 mm, Amoya gracilis is skilled at finding and using burrows in the tidal pools that remain as the tide drops, feeding on small crustaceans and amphipods; it was photographed at both Weipa and Cooktown.

Compiled for Home of the Rainbowfish from ANGFA sources: J. Lenagan, “Cairns to Weipa and back… the Gobioides. Part 1”, Fishes of Sahul 33, 2019, pp. 1448–1483.