Dusky frill-goby
Bathygobius fuscus
- Usual depth0–2 m
- Water temperature19–30 °C
- Best monthsMay, August, and September
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) coenobita, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The dusky frillgoby, also known as the brown frillfin, is a species of goby which is found in the Indo-Pacific region from the South Africa north to the Red Sea and east as far as Tonga, south to Australia and north to Japan. It is a mainly coastal speciesbut it has an amphidromous life cycle and it occurs in estuaries and will move into in freshwater streams. In estuarine areas it is found mainly in the creeks preferring environments with sand and rubble, soft coral and open reefs. It feeds on detritus, as well as feeding on crustaceans, fish and algae and it is a benthic spawner. The maximum total length is 12 centimetres (4.7 in).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Bathygobius fuscus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 58 records
- February: 60 records
- March: 54 records
- April: 69 records
- May: 154 records
- June: 65 records
- July: 106 records
- August: 134 records
- September: 124 records
- October: 92 records
- November: 71 records
- December: 60 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0–2 m · Deepest record: 10 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C
Photos
(c) unipon, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) りなべる, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Matthew Blissett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Dusky frill-goby, Brown Frillfin, brown goby, Common Goby, dusky frillfin goby, dusky frill-goby, Dusky Frillgoby, Dusky frillgoby, Frill goby, Frill Goby
Names in 4 more languages
- French
- Gobie moucheté
- Japanese
- Kumohaze, クモハゼ
- Korean
- 무늬망둑
- Simplified Chinese
- 深鰕虎, 深鰕虎魚, 褐深鰕虎, 黑褐深鰕虎魚（褐深鰕虎）
Other scientific names: Bathygobius samberanoensis, Bathygobius sambiranoensis, Bathygobius vergeri, Gobius darnleyensis, Gobius fuscus, Gobius marginalis, Gobius nebulopunctatus, Gobius nigripinnis, Gobius obscurus, Gobius punctillatus, Gobius samberanensis, Gobius samberanoensis, Gobius sambiranoensis, Gobius vergeri, Stenogobius vergeri
Similar species
Brownlined GobyBathygobius coalitus
Cocos frillfin gobyBathygobius cocosensis
Roundfin gobyBathygobius cyclopterus
Brownlined GobyBathygobius meggitti
- Common goby
Pomatoschistus microps
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 2,235 open-data records from 1906 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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