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…

This species is not in the aquarium trade though is maintained by a few private collectors. It can be distinguished from all other members of the genus by the following combination of characters: first dorsal-fin withfirst dorsal-fin elongate in males; anterior portion of body with loosely-arranged ctenoid scales; head, entire nape to first dorsal-fin base, pectoral base, and belly naked; male colour pattern comprising creamy-yellow anterior portion of body with dark blotch at midbody and bright orange/red in postero…

This species occurs in a couple of colour forms with fish from northern and central Taiwan possessing a greyish base body colour and those from the Linbian river, southern Taiwan having a dark marking in the anterior portion of the first dorsal fin and larger, more intense red spots on the body.

The latter form is also smaller in size, lays smaller eggs, does not exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism and has been refe…

Live colouration of this species was not included in the original description but the specimens in our images were identified by Dr. Ronald E. Watson, the principal author, as S. exallisquamulus. It's normally misidentified and traded as the Sri Lankan endemic species Sicyopus jonklaasi.

It is diagnosable from congeners by the following combination of characters: 14-15 pectoral-fin rays; both genders exhibit small, widely-spaced scales…

This species is not traded commercially at present and the specimen pictured above was brought back from northern Papua New Guinea by private collectors in 2008. It's diagnosable from other members in the genus by possession of 10 segmented rays in the second dorsal fin, males with filamentous spines in the firstandusually with 14 rays. Colour patterning in males is also distinctive (see 'Sexual Dimorphism').

The Gobiidae is the most speciose vert…

This species is traded as S. sp. ‘rainbow’, S. sp. ‘gold fin’, or S. sp. ‘gold cheek’ and is among the more widely-available members of the genus although its identity was unclear prior to 2013.

The most commonly-traded fish certainly appears to…

This species seems not to have appeared in the trade and is similar to several congeners in appearance, most notably S. weberi which is native to the Maluku archipelago and other islands around the coast of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). The two are said to be most easily-distinguished by examination of the belly which is fully-scaled in S. pelewensis but lacks scalation in S. weberi.

The Gobiidae is the most speciose vertebrate family and notoriously problematic in terms of identifying fishes down to sp…

This species probably hasn't been seen in the trade yet but should make an interesting aquarium fish if it ever becomes available. Within the genus it's most similar to S. surrufus and S. mele from which it differs only in terms of meristics. In description it's distinguished from the former only by possession of more teeth in the upper jaw although images of live specimens depict S. surrufus as a more intensely-coloured, reddish fi…

This species has been traded for a number of years, though not always under the correct name. We've seen it on sale as S. elegans or S. atropurpureus on numerous occasions, for example, and other trade names include 'Sumatran blue neon goby', 'cobalt blue goby' and 'freshwater neon goby'. Further confusion has arisen because other species are sometimes sold as S. semoni meaning identification has not always been easy and there …

This species was referred to as S. sp. ‘orange fin’ or S. sp. ‘ST01’ prior to being offically named and is one of the more commonly-traded members of the genus, though often in batches containing only one gender, a mixture of species, or misidentified under an incorrect name such as S. zebrinus.

It can be told apart from congeners by the following combination of characters: usually 9 soft second dorsal-fin rays; 15 soft pectoral-fin rays; first dorsal-fin in male poin…