Grass Clingfish, Melanophorichthys posidonus Conway, Moore & Summers
A pair of Grass Clingfish, Melanophorichthys posidonus, at Rye, Port Phillip, Victoria, November 2018. Source: Rebecca Lloyd / iNaturalist.org. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial
Summary:
A small slender bright green to pale brown or semi-transparent clingfish with males and females having different colour patterns.
Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2024, Melanophorichthys posidonus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 27 Jun 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/5299
Grass Clingfish, Melanophorichthys posidonus Conway, Moore & Summers
More Info
|
Distribution |
Endemic to southern Australia from Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, to the Gulf St Vincent, South Australia, including Kangaroo Island. Inhabits seagrass and macroalgal beds. |
|
Features |
Dorsal fin 10-12; Anal fin 11-14; Pectoral fin 20-23; Pelvic fin I,4; Caudal fin (principal rays) 5 + (4-5); Vertebrae 38-40: Gill rakers (first arch) 2-4/7. Body moderately elongate. Pelvic fins united into a small ventral sucking disc, consisting of anterior and posterior halves, posterior edge with fleshy fringe. Gravid females with a conspicuously swollen body. |
|
Colour |
Greenish with a band of small black spots along lower two-thirds of body which persist in preserved specimens; back sometimes transparent with line of brown spots along midline; whitish irregular stripe sometimes present along lower side of body; dorsal and anal fins green with paler markings; brownish line sometimes on side of snout, through eye to opercular border. Colour differences between the sexes are most obvious during the winter breeding season, with females developing a distinctive piebald appearance of pale and dark blotches. |
|
Etymology |
The specific name "is derived from the generic name Posidonia, a genus of marine flowering plants of the family Posidoniaceae, known collectively as seagrass. The generic name Posidonia is itself derived from the name of the Greek God of the sea, Poseidon. In reference to the habitat of this new species." |
|
Author |
Bray, D.J. 2024 |
|
Resources |
Grass Clingfish, Melanophorichthys posidonus Conway, Moore & Summers
References
Conway, K.W., Moore, G.I. & Summers, A.P. 2024. A new genus and four new species of seagrass-specialist clingfishes (Teleostei: Gobiesocidae) from temperate southern Australia. Zootaxa 5552(1): 1-66. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5552.1.1
Hutchins, J.B. 1994. Family Gobiesocidae, in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds) The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. 992 pp. (as undescribed Genus C, sp. 1)
Hutchins, J.B. 2008. Family Gobiesocidae. pp. 722-741 in Gomon. M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H (eds) Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp. (as undescribed Genus C, sp. 1)
