The Madeira Goby is a species in the large clade of Percomorpha and thus belongs to the superclass of the bony fish.
Description
The body of Mauligobius maderensis is elongated with a dark brown to black base colour. Over its body and on the fins are many, irregular spots, which are white, beige or slightly bluish, distributed. Its eyes are black and stand out slightly. The back fin is divided.
The Madeira Goby reaches a size of up to 15cm.
Habitat and Distribution
One finds the Madeira Goby on rocky ground, mostly in tide pools. So they are found in shallow waters.
When diving in the Canaries you can only observe them very rarely. However, they are very often found in tide pools.
Apart from the Canaries, they are also spread around Madeira and the Ilhas Selvagens.
Biology
There is very little information on the way of life of Mauligobius maderensis. Through my observations, however, I think that they live solitary. There are also small groups of them here and there, but this is more likely to be due to the limited space in the tide pools than to the fact that they live together.
References