Redigobius balteatus
Rhino-horn Goby (also Girdled Goby)
Species Summary
A small estuarine goby easily recognised by an oblique black slash from the eye through the gill towards the ventral fins and a spectacular black vertical bar running from the top of the first dorsal fin down through the body to the vent, Redigobius balteatus takes its common name from the tall, pointed first dorsal fin of breeding males, often bright yellow at the front.
First Australian Record
Redigobius balteatus was first recorded in Australian waters in 1959, after a Townsville aquarium-club collecting trip — organised specifically to find the species at the correspondent's request — turned up a pair, later confirmed by Ian Munro as the first record of the species anywhere in Australia. Detailed spawning notes describe a 45×25×25 cm tank with a hollow, chimney-shaped central rock providing an observation window onto the nest: eggs were laid in dense patches on gently downward-sloping surfaces inside the chimney, fanned and mouthed by the male for a couple of days before disappearing, presumably hatched. Optimal hatching salinity was investigated using a series of seawater/freshwater test jars, from 1:6 through to 4:1. Some 35 years after that first breeding attempt, the same aquarist finally saw wild Redigobius balteatus in their natural habitat, among rockpile banks in the estuarine Ross River at Townsville, during an ANGFA conference.
Compiled for Home of the Rainbowfish from ANGFA sources: R. Bowman, “Observations of the spawning of the rhino-horn goby Redigobius balteatus”, Fishes of Sahul 14, 2000, pp. 690–692; Anonymous, “Redigobius balteatus (Herre 1935) Common name: Rhinohorn Goby”, In-Stream 20, 2011, p. 22.