Glossogobius bellendenensis
Mulgrave Goby
One of Australia and New Guinea’s largest and most taxonomically active goby genera, Glossogobius (“Flathead Gobies” or “Tank Gobies”) includes some of the region’s largest and most commonly encountered freshwater gobies, several only formally described within the last two decades.
Endemic to the Russell, Mulgrave and Mossman Rivers near Cairns, north Queensland, Glossogobius bellendenensis was formally described in 2009 after some years of informal recognition as “Glossogobius sp. 4,” including a documented 2007 range extension to Saltwater Creek near Mossman — at the time, one of only eight fish species considered endemic to the Wet Tropics bioregion. It is distinguished from the similar G. muscorum of the Fly River, New Guinea, and G. concavifrons by a combination of fin and scale counts.
Compiled for Home of the Rainbowfish from ANGFA sources: Anonymous, “A new species of Glossogobius from the Wet Tropics”, In-Stream 18, 2009, pp. 23–24; Anonymous, “Mulgrave River Goby, Glossogobius sp. 4”, In-Stream 16, 2007, p. 23 (citing D. F. Hoese & G. R. Allen, “Description of two new species of Glossogobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from freshwaters of northern Australia”, Zootaxa 1981, 2009, pp. 1–14).