Common Name: Tailspot Dartgoby

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: from the Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiian and Line Islands, Marquesas and Society Islands,  north to the Ryuku Islands and south to Lord Howe Island. Also in Micronesia. In Australia recorded from Ashmore Reef in north Western Australia, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to central New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequent lagoons, bays or passes, or outer reef slopes, over hard substrate and sand and rubble areas, usually at the base of a reef. Depth  5 to 45 m, usually 15 m.

Additional Notes: Pale pearly blue body with black blotch in middle of tail fin. Monogamous and usually found in pairs feeding together on zooplankton, often as high as 3 m above the substrate. Grow to 14 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.412.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Ptereleotris+heteroptera. Accessed 09/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Ptereleotris-heteroptera.html. Accessed 09/06/18.