Awaous acritosus
Roman-nose Goby
Species Summary
Awaous acritosus occurs in north-eastern Australia from Cape York to the Herbert River, and separately in southern New Guinea. It is amphidromous, an algae grazer that also ingests sand and detritus while foraging, and is often misidentified as the very similar Awaous crassilabrus, which does not actually occur in Australia. Eggs are deposited on rock or a submerged log and guarded by the parents.
One field encounter describes an “inquisitive Roman-nose Goby” photographed at Myall Creek, Cape Tribulation, in the company of a Rabbithead Cling Goby and a Snakehead Gudgeon — a reminder of how many gudgeon and goby species can share a single small tropical creek.
Compiled for Home of the Rainbowfish from ANGFA sources: Anonymous, “Awaous acritosus - Roman-nose Goby”, In-Stream 24, 2015, p. 23 (citing R. E. Watson, “Awaous (Awaous) acritosus, a new species of freshwater goby from southern New Guinea and northeastern Australia”, Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 5, 1994, pp. 371–376); J. Lenagan, “Cairns to Weipa and back, through a new lens: Part 2. Gobioides of the Wet Tropics”, Fishes of Sahul 34, 2020, pp. 1642–1657.