Sixspot goby

About this species

Valencienna sexguttata, the chalk goby, sixspot goby or sleeper blue dot goby, is a species of goby native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. It inhabits bays or lagoons in waters from 3 to 25 m with silt or sand substrates with rocks under which to burrow. It can reach 14 cm (5.5 in) in TL, and may be found in the aquarium trade.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Valenciennea sexguttata”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 63 records
February: 78 records
March: 98 records
April: 81 records
May: 65 records
June: 51 records
July: 98 records
August: 82 records
September: 90 records
October: 73 records
November: 75 records
December: 60 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–13 m · Deepest record: 150 m

0–10 m: 178 records
10–20 m: 25 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 13 records
26–28 °C: 76 records
28–30 °C: 216 records

Photos

(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jim Moore (Maryland), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Matthew Morgan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kai Squires, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Sixspot goby, Blacktip goby, Ladder glider, Ladder Glider Goby, Ladder goby, sixspot goby, Six-spot goby, Sixspot goby (FB), Six-spot sleeper-goby

Names in 3 more languages

French: Gobie à six taches
Japanese: Mizutamahaze, ミズタマハゼ
Simplified Chinese: 六斑凡塘鱧, 六點范氏塘鱧

Other scientific names: Eleotriodes pallidus, Eleotriodes sexguttatus, Eleotris lantzii, Eleotris sexguttata, Salarigobius stuhlmannii, Valencienea sexguttata, Valenciennea sexguttatus, Valenciennea violifera

Similar species

Long-finned Goby
Valenciennea longipinnis
Lined Gudgeon
Valenciennea muralis
Maiden goby
Valenciennea puellaris
Blueband goby
Valenciennea strigata
Twostripe goby
Valenciennea helsdingenii
Greenband Glider Goby
Valenciennea randalli

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).
612 open-data records from 1837 to 2023.
Species data updated October 31, 2026.