Panamic Clingfish, Gobiesox adustus

Panamic Clingfish, Gobiesox adustus. Fish collected from a tidal pool at Km 17, El Tule, Baja California Sur, January 2013. Length: 1.5 cm (0.6 inches).

Panamic Clingfish, Gobiesox adustus. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, February 2022. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

The Panamic Clingfish, Gobiesox adustus, is a member of the Clingfish or Gobiesocidae Family, and is known in Mexico as chupapiedras panámica. Globally, there are twenty-nine species in the genus Gobiesox, of which seven are found in Mexican waters, one in the Atlantic Ocean and five in the Pacific Ocean and one, this species, in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Panamic Clingfish has an elongated “tadpole” like body. They are tan in color dorsally, with numerous light brown and blue spots separated by fine blue lines, and are off-white ventrally. They have a series of wide subtle dark bars across their body including their caudal fin and a dark spot at the front of their dorsal fin. Their head is broad and their mouth has a broad top lip and numerous conical teeth at the front and a row of recurved canines on each side. Their anal fin has no spines and 9 or 10 rays; their dorsal fin is located well back on the body and has no spines and 11 rays. The sucker located on the ventral side is disproportionately large. A key to identification is the location of the anus which is equidistant from the anal fin origin and the rear margin of the disc and is well in front of the dorsal fin origin. Their skin is smooth and has no scales.

The Panamic Clingfish is a shallow-water species found in rocky areas within tidal pools exposed to high surf at depths up to 10 m (33 feet). They reach a maximum of 6.2 cm (2.4 inches) in length. They feed primarily on barnacles and small crustaceans. The Panamic Clingfish  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 Panamic Clingfish is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific with the exception that they are absent from the northern 20% of the Sea of Cortez and along the entire west coast of Baja.

The Panamic Clingfish is a fairly easy fish to identify due to its coloration and the bars on its caudal fin and back.

From a conservation perspective the Panamic Clingfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations. They are too small to be of interest to most.