Banded Cleaning Goby, Tigrigobius digueti
Banded Cleaning Goby, Tigrigobius digueti. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, December 2019 and March 2022. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.
Banded Cleaning Goby, Tigrigobius digueti, Cleaning a Mottled Soapfish. The pictured Goby is approximately 2.0 cm (0.8 inches) in length based on the average length of a Mottled Soapfish. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, March 2019. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.
Banded Cleaning Goby, Tigrigobius digueti and Redhead Goby, Tigrigobius puncticulatus. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, January 2022. Photograph courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.
The Banded Cleaning Goby, Tigrigobius digueti, is a member of the Goby or Gobiidae Family, and is known in Mexico as gobio barbero. Globally, there are sixteen species in the genus Tigrigobius, of which four are found in Mexican waters, all in the Pacific Ocean.
The Banded Cleaning Goby has an elongated body and a rounded head with a steep profile ending in a slightly oblique terminal mouth that extends to the rear margin of the eyes. The head is translucent with 3 or 4 red bars, the body is a yellowish translucent with narrow dark wavy bars that are narrower than the interspaces and they have dark blotches along the mid-line of the body. Their anal fin has 1 spine and 8 to 10 rays; their caudal fin is rounded; their first dorsal fin has 7 spines; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 9 to 11 rays; their pectoral fins have 18 to 20 rays; and, their pelvic fins are fused in a disc. They do not have scales.
The Banded Cleaning Goby is found in coral and rocky reef environments at depths up to 30 m (100 feet). They reach a maximum of 3.2 cm (1.3 inches) in length. They feed primarily on zooplankton and small crustaceans. They are also known to pick ectoparasites from other fishes. The Banded Cleaning Goby is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Banded Cleaning Goby is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from the northern portions of the Sea of Cortez and from along the west coast of Baja.
The Banded Cleaning Goby is a straightforward identification and cannot easily be confused with any other species.
From a conservation perspective the Banded Cleaning Goby is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are too small in stature to be of interest to most.