On the occurrence of Tenacigobius yongei (Davis & Cohen) in the Gulf of Elat (Red Sea) (Pisces: Gobiidae)

The goby Tenacigobius yongei (Davis & Cohen, 1968) has been described from Borneo and Hawaii. It lives on the antipatharian sea whip Grrhipathes sp., sharing this ecological niche with the palaemonid shrimp Pontonides unciger (Caiman) (Davis & Cohen, 1968). Although the sea whip and associated shrimp have been known from the Red Sea for many years, this goby has surprisingly not been recorded from the Red Sea or the Western Indian Ocean. This small go by has probably been overlooked by scientists, as have many other common gobies recently discovered (Goren, 1983), due to its small size. During a recent study of the taxonomy and ecology of gobies living in association with sessile invertebrates, carried out in the northern Red Sea, specimens ofT. Yongei were collected and identified, and the species is reported here as being a new record for the Red Sea. Abbreviations. TL = total length; TAU =fish collection of the Zoological Museum, Tel Aviv University. Terminology for the cephalic sensory system is as in Lachner and Karnella (1978).