Common Name: Reticulate Sandgoby

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: from Mozambique and Kenya, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Micronesia. In Australia recorded from the Kimberly region of Western Australia, and in Queensland.

Ecological Notes: Frequent turbid waters along coasts and near river mouths. Depth from 1 m to at least 12 m.

Additional Notes: May have numerous dark blotches giving overall darker appearance compared to other Istigobius species. Rows of light edged dark spots and white spots or dashes cover body. Feeds on benthic crustaceans, molluscs and algae. Grows to 7.9 cms.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.401.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=istigobius+spence. Accessed 02/065/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/istigobius-spence.html. Accessed 02/06/18.