A New Coral Reef Goby, Exyrias akihito
Check out this cute little critter! It is known to inhabit water around the northern Great Barrier Reef to the southern islands of Japan. It likes clear water near coral reefs whereas the 3 other species of the genus prefer the mud bottom of estuaries.
Previously, it’s been confused with E. belissimus, a close cousin. Researchers Gerald Allen of Australia and John Randell of HI, USA set us straight with their paper, Exyrias akihito, a new species of coral-reef goby (Gobiidae) from the western pacific, [pdf] published in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.
E. akihito was named after the Emperor of Japan. The Emperor doubles as an ichthyologist and has written many papers and books on gobies!
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Gobiidae