Brachygobius aggregatus HERRE, 1940

Schooling Bumblebee Goby

Classification

Order: Perciformes Family: Gobiidae

Distribution

Described from ‘Dumaguete, Oriental Negros, Philippines’, and Rainboth (1996) recorded it from the lower Mekong, Vietnam.

Additional records are minimal and its name may also have been applied to other species meaning the true extent of its range is unclear.

Maximum Standard Length

Kottelat et al. (1993) give a maximum recorded size of 44 mm, though most reports suggest it not to exceed 15 – 20 mm.

Aquarium SizeTop ↑

Base dimensions of 45 ∗ 30 cm or equivalent should be the minimum considered.

Diet

As with congeners sall live foods such as Artemia, Daphnia, etc., are probably essential although some specimens will learn to accept  frozen alternatives. Dried products are normally ignored.

Behaviour and CompatibilityTop ↑

Unlikely to make an ideal community fish and should do best in a species-specific set-up.

NotesTop ↑

Though this species appears on ornamental trade lists quite often the name appears to be routinely misapplied to other species, particularly B. doriae-type fishes, and we’ve been unable to obtain any positively-identified photographs so far.

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; 6 branched anal-fin rays; predorsal scales absent.

67 specimens of the congener B. kabiliensis were listed as paratypes in the original description of B. aggregatus. These two are very similar-looking but can be told apart from one another by the fact that the black body bar above the anal-fin extends to the ventral midline in B. agregatus, but in B. kabiliensis terminates around midbody. B. kalbiensis also possesses predorsal scales while B. aggregatus does not.

Both are best considered as nominal taxa for the time being since several species might be involved. Therefore, although we’ve assigned images to profiles based on how well they match the key of Inger (1958) their identification can only be thought of as tentative pending publication of a forthcoming review.

Brachygobius currently contains 9 described species, and although all are referred to collectively as ‘bumblebee’ gobies only B. doriae and B. sabanus are commonly-available  in the ornamental trade.

The grouping is often included in the subfamily Gobionellinae alongside genera such as Chlamydogobius, Mugilogobius, Pseudogobiopsis, Rhinogobius, Schismatogobius, and Stigmatogobius.

It’s considered most closely-related to the genus Pandaka with the two sharing numerous characters but differing in the morphology of the head lateral line system and number of epurals present.

References

1. Inger, R. F., 1958 - Fieldiana Zoology 39(14): 107-117
   Notes on the fishes of the genus Brachygobius.
2. Miller, P. J., 1989 - Cybium 13(4): 375-383
   The classification of bumble-bee gobies (Brachygobius and associated genera) (Teleostei: Gobiidae).
3. Rainboth, W. J., 1996 - FAO, Rome: 1-265
   Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong. FAO Species Identification Field Guide for Fishery Purposes.
4. Randall, J. E. and K. K. P. Lim, 2000 - The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 8: 569-667
   A checklist of the fishes of the South China Sea.