Smoothsnout Clingfish, Aspasmogaster liorhynchus Briggs 1955

Other Names: Smooth-snout Clingfish

A Smoothsnout Clingfish, Aspasmogaster liorhynchus, at Ricketts Point, Port Phillip, Victoria, 24 March 2009. Source: Sarah Speight / Flickr. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:

A pale greenish-brown, pale brown or dusky-brown clingfish, usually with many very small dark spots, some of which may join together to form short irregular lines.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2025, Aspasmogaster liorhynchus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 01 May 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1148

Smoothsnout Clingfish, Aspasmogaster liorhynchus Briggs 1955

More Info

Distribution	Sydney, New South Wales, to the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia, including northern Tasmania. Inhabits coastal rocky reefs in shallow subtidal and intertidal areas, often sheltering in ledges with sea urchins; also found near jetties.Occurs in shallow coastal reefs, usually in ledges with sea urchins
Features	Dorsal fin 6-8; Anal fin 6-7; Pectoral fin 20-23; Caudal fin 10-12; Vertebrae 32. Body moderately robust, depressed anteriorly, compressed posteriorly; caudal peduncle very short. Head moderately wide, flattened, tapering to rather pointed snout; eyes of moderate size; lips moderately narrow, lower lip with obvious skinfold anteriorly on each side; snout smooth, without prominent transverse skinfold; mouth moderately small, reaching to below front of eyes, lower jaw barely shorter than upper; teeth small, conical; no spines laterally on head; gill openings large, lateral. Scales and lateral line absent; some sensory papillae on sides. Single moderately short dorsal fin immediately before, but not connected with caudal fin; anal fin slightly smaller than and below dorsal, neither fin with anterior rays swollen at base; caudal fin rounded. Pectoral fins rounded, no fleshy pad ventrally on their bases. Pelvic fins united into ventral sucking disc of moderate size, consisting of anterior and posterior halves.
Etymology	The specific name is from the Greek leios (= smooth) and rhynchos (= snout), in reference to the lack of an accessory fold of tissue across the tip of the snout, the region behind premaxillary groove being smooth.
Species Citation	Aspasmogaster liorhynchus Briggs 1955, Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin 6: 51. Type locality: Coogee, near Sydney, New South Wales.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2025
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Smoothsnout Clingfish, Aspasmogaster liorhynchus Briggs 1955

References

Briggs, J.C. 1955. A monograph of the clingfishes (order Xenopterygii). Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin 6: 1-224 figs 1-114

Hutchins, J.B. 1984. Description of a new gobiesocid fish from south-western Australia, with a key to the species of Aspasmogaster. Records of the Western Australian Museum 11(2): 129-140 figs 1-5

Hutchins, J.B. 1994. Family Gobiesocidae. pp. 305-324, figs 269-289 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs.

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 Aspasmogaster liorhyncha)

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal fishes of south-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp.