Common Name: Lyretail Dartgoby

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: from the Seychelles and Chagos Islands to the western Pacific. In Australia recorded from northern Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales,  and including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents reef habitats on shallow outer lagoons to deeper slopes, usually among rubble substrate. Depth to at least 50 m.

Additional Notes: Pale body with yellow and red margin to dorsal fin. Usually observed feeding on zooplankton in the water column, retreating to burrows in the substrate when alarmed. Are monogamous and occur in pairs, and may be part of a larger colony. Grows to 12 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.413.

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

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