Type locality is ’55 miles north of Singapore, freshwater ditches, Mawai District, Johore, Malaysia’, and this species has been recorded throughout much of Peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand.

Records from Borneo and Singapore appear to be in error although it may have been extirpated from the latter but as with most members of the genus a degree of confusion surrounds its identity (see ‘Notes’).

B. sabanus is very similar to B. doriae and these two are easily confused. However in B. doriae most of the first-dorsal-fin and two-thirds of the pectoral-fin are black while in B. sabanus the last one or two rays of the first dorsal-fin are colourless and less than half of the pectoral-fin is black.

In addition there are usually smaller dark ‘saddles’ betw…

Type locality is the ‘river below Calcutta’ which corresponds to the western side of the Ganges River delta south of Kolkata, West Bengal state, with reports as to its wider distribution varying significantly.

It’s sometimes said to be present throughout India plus both mainland and maritime southeast Asia, but is more likely restricted to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and possibly Myanmar.

It can be diagnosed as follows: <30 lateral scales; two black body bands reaching ventral midline posterior to anal-fin; band above anal-fin also reaching ventral midline no black band on head, though the first band may touch the posterior margin of the eye; band above anal-fin not reaching ventral midline; 6 branched anal-fin rays; 7-8 predorsal scales. Brachygobius currently contains 9 described species but is likely to prove more diverse should a review be carried out. Alt…

Though this species appears on ornamental trade lists quite often the name appears to be routinely misapplied to other species, particularly B. doriae.

It can be diagnosed as follows: <30 lateral scales; two black body bands reaching ventral midline posterior to anal-fin; band above anal-fin als...

Type locality is given as ‘Stream at end of long narrow bay, Waigeo Island, Irian Jaya, Indonesia’, with the species also known from rivers draining the northern slope of New Guinea as well as Halmahera Island (Indonesia), the Admiralty Islands (Papua New Guinea), the Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea), D’Entrecasteaux Islands (Papua New Guinea), Louisiade Archipelago (Papua New Guinea), Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), Vanuatu, and…

As with all members of the genus sexual dimorphism is pronounced. Males are brightly-coloured, with a reddish-orange stripe extending posteriorly from the pectoral-fin, with the posterior portion of the body entirely suffused with red. A darkish band extends from behind the eye to the edge of the opercle, and the basal third of the caudal-fin is reddish-orange.

Known only from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, and thus far recorded from just 4 streams on Okinawa island and two on Iriomote island. The type series derived from both islands with Okinawa given as type locality.

It may be more widely-distributed than this however, and was possibly transported to the Ryukyu Islands via the Kuroshio Current, an ocean current similar to the Gulf Stream transporting warm, tropical water northward from an area east of Taiwan past Japan towards the polar region.

The fused pelvic fins form a structure normally referred to as the ‘pelvic disc’, a common feature among gobiids which is used to adhere to rocks and other submerged surfaces. In Sicyopus, as in Stiphodon, this is short-based and attached to the belly only between the fifth pair of fin rays whereas in other sicydiines it’s attached between all five rays (Watson, 2005).

Type locality is given as ‘Boleling, northern Bali, Indonesia’ which appears to correspond to modern-day Buleleng, but this species is currently understood to have a patchy but wide distribution with a range stretching westwards from the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia), throughout much of Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Fiji, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, and most recently, southern mainland China…