Lepidogobius lepidus

Lepidogobius lepidus, the bay goby or finescale goby, is a noticeably resilient and adaptable species of goby, native to the Pacific coast of North America from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico where it can be found on muddy substrates from the intertidal zone to about 200 metres (660 ft). This species grows to a length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in) TL. This species is the only extant member of its genus. They can flourish in various kinds of habitats, including brackish waters that have fluctuating salinities. The bay goby has a flattened body, and a distinctive head shape which allows it to seamlessly blend into its surroundings. They appear to be light brown to tan in colour with dark spots or markings on its body. This type of goby fish also possesses a fused fin that forms a disc-like suction which aids in their ability to cling to surfaces and not get swept away by currents. These little fish play a crucial role in the food web of their ecosystems as they are both predators of small crustaceans and prey for large fish.

Lepidogobius lepidus

Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
bay gobyPBDB
Sits inside
LepidogobiusPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 2.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Pliocene — about 1 of 5 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 5 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 5 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences137 ka–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.58 Mya129 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

5 occurrences of Lepidogobius lepidus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

5 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°W

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The named rock units Lepidogobius lepidus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lepidogobius lepidus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lepidogobius lepidus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

443 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Lepidogobius lepidus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 5 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Lepidogobius lepidus

Credit
Internet Archive Book Images
Licence
No restrictions
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Lepidogobius lepidus was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

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Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Girard 1858)