Systematics of Gobiidae

Th e family Gobiidae includes what are considered the typical gobies: small, usually marine fishes, with separate spinous and rayed dorsal fins and pelvic fi ns oft en joined into a disc, that live on or in the substrate and are generally inconspicuous. Color patterns may range from brightly patterned to drab and camoufl aged. Th e composition of this family has changed since the description of the fi rst Gobius by Linnaeus (1758), but it has always been the most speciose of gobioid taxa, and the one that contains the most well-known examples of goby biology and ecology. Various classifi cations based on morphology have delineated Gobiidae as the largest of six to nine gobioid families (Miller, 1973; Hoese, 1984; Harrison, 1989; Pezold, 1993; Nelson, 2006); reevaluations of gobioid systematics based on molecular data have shown that the smaller, distinctive families historically separated from the bulk of gobioid taxa are actually nested within the larger groups (Akihito et al., 2000; Wang et al., 2001; Th acker, 2003; Rüber and Agorreta, 2011, Chapter 1.2 of this volume). A revised six-family clade-based classifi cation (Th acker, 2009) identifi es a Gobiidae that includes all genera of the former taxa Gobiinae, Microdesmidae, Ptereleotridae, Schindleriidae,