Gobiodon is a genus of gobies also known as coral gobies or "clown gobies" (which can also mean the related genus Microgobius). Unlike the rest of the family Gobiidae, coral gobies, are not burrowers, instead they inhabit the branches of Acropora or similar hard corals.
As a group, they are small, most ranging about 6 cm, with exceptions. They have a fusiform shape.
Gobiodon burdigalicus from the Burdigalian (Miocene) of southwestern India is the first fossil (otoliths) record of this genus.
Species Accepted species in this genus include: Gobiodon acicularis Harold & R. Winterbottom, 1995 (Needlespine coral goby) Gobiodon albofasciatus Sawada & R. Arai, 1972 (Whitelined coral goby) Gobiodon aoyagii Shibukawa, T. Suzuki & Aizawa, 2013Shibukawa, K., Suzuki, T. & Aizawa, M. (2013): Gobiodon aoyagii, a New Coral Goby (Actinopterygii, Gobiidae, Gobiinae) from the West Pacific, with Redescription of a Similarly colored Congener Gobiodon erythrospilus Bleeker, 1875. Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Series A, 39 (3): 143-165. Gobiodon ater Herler, Bogorodsky & T. Suzuki, 2013 (Black coralgoby)Herler, J., Bogorodsky, S.V. & Suzuki, T. (2013): Four new species of coral gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Gobiodon), with comments on their relationships within the genus. Zootaxa, 3709 (4): 301–329. Gobiodon atrangulatus Garman, 1903 Gobiodon axillaris De Vis, 1884 Gobiodon bicalvolineatus Hildebrandt, C. A., Froehlich, C. Y. M., Brodnicke, O. B., Klanten, O. S., Møller, P. R., & Wong, M. Y. L., 2024 Gobiodon bilineatus Herler, Bogorodsky & T. Suzuki, 2013 (Two-lined coralgoby) Gobiodon brochus Harold & R. Winterbottom, 1999 Gobiodon ceramensis (Bleeker, 1853) Gobiodon citrinus (Rüppell, 1838) (Poison goby) Gobiodon cobenjaminsis (Hildebrandt, C. A., Froehlich, C. Y. M., Brodnicke, O. B., Klanten, O. S., Møller, P. R., & Wong, M. Y. L, 2024) Gobiodon fulvus Herre, 1927 Gobiodon fuscoruber Herler, Bogorodsky & T. Suzuki, 2013 (Brown-red coralgoby) Gobiodon heterospilos Bleeker, 1856 Gobiodon histrio (Valenciennes, 1837) (Broad-barred goby) Gobiodon irregularis Herler, Bogorodsky & T. Suzuki, 2013 (Rufous coralgoby) Gobiodon limmoni Wibowo et al., 2026Wibowo, K., Harefa, T., Mokodongan, D. F., Priyadi, A., & Peristiwady, T. (2026). Gobiodon limmoni, a new coral-associated goby (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the Moluccas, eastern Indonesia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 2026, 155. https://doi.org/10.26107/RBZ-2026-0013 Gobiodon micropus Günther, 1861 Gobiodon multilineatus H. L. Wu, 1979 Gobiodon oculolineatus H. L. Wu, 1979 Gobiodon okinawae Sawada, R. Arai & T. Abe, 1972 (Okinawa goby) Gobiodon prolixus R. Winterbottom & Harold, 2005 Gobiodon quinquestrigatus (Valenciennes, 1837) (Five-lined coral goby) Gobiodon reticulatus Playfair (fr), 1867 (Reticulate goby) Gobiodon rivulatus (Rüppell, 1830) (Rippled coral goby)
Gobiodon spadix Sato & Motomura 2024 (Akane Coral Goby)
Gobiodon spilophthalmus Fowler, 1944 Gobiodon winterbottomi T. Suzuki, Ko. Yano & Senou, 2012Suzuki, T., Yano, K. & Senou, H. (2012): Gobiodon winterbottomi, a New Goby (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Gobiidae) from Iriomote-jima Island, the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural Science, Ser. A., Supplement No. 6: 59–65. Gobiodon burdigalicus Carolin, Bajpai, Maurya & Schwarzhans, 2022 (otolith-based fossil species)
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