Purple Firegoby, Nemateleotris decora Randall & Allen 1973
Other Names: Decorated Dartfish, Elegant Dartfish, Elegant Firefish, Purple Fire Goby, Purple Fire-goby, Redbanner Goby
A Purple Firegoby, Nemateleotris decora, at Bua, Fiji. Source: Mark Rosenstein / iNaturalist.org. License: CC By Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Summary:
A dartfish with a pale greyish anterior body becoming purplish-black on the rear half, a violet snout and mid-dorsal stripe on top of the the head, broad red lobes on the caudal fin, and a broad red stripe bordered with violet on the dorsal and anal fins.
Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2025, Nemateleotris decora in Fishes of Australia, accessed 12 Mar 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/2942
Purple Firegoby, Nemateleotris decora Randall & Allen 1973
More Info
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Distribution |
Northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island in the Eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs in the east-Indo-west-central Pacific. Red Sea and Mauritius, to Micronesia and Samoa, north to the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, Australia. Individual or pairs shelter in burrows on sand-rubble patches at the base of reefs. |
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Features |
Dorsal fin VI + I, 27-32; Anal fin I, 28-31; Pectoral fin 20-21; Pelvic fin I, 5; Longitudinal scale series ~135-160. Body depth 4.8-5.7 in SL; first dorsal fin elevated, not extending beyond anterior third of second dorsal-fin. |
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Etymology |
The specific name is from the Latin decorus (= elegant, beautiful), in reference to the coloration of this species. |
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Species Citation |
Nemateleotris decora Randall & Allen 1973, Quarterly Journal of the Taiwan Museum 26(3, 4): 361, figs 3, 6-7. Type locality: Southwestern side of Augulupelu Reef, 7°15'33"N, 134°31'33"E, Palau Islands, Philippine Sea, depth 52 m. |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2025 |
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Resources |
Purple Firegoby, Nemateleotris decora Randall & Allen 1973
References
Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls.
Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.
Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21
Allen, G.R. & Steene, R.C. 1979. The Fishes of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Aust. Natl. Parks Wldlf. Ser. Spec. Publ. 2. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service 81 pp. 15 pls
Allen, G.R., Steene, R.C. & Orchard, M. 2007. Fishes of Christmas Island. Christmas Island : Christmas Island Natural History Association 2 edn, 284 pp.
Greenfield, D. & Munroe, T.A. 2016. Nemateleotris decora. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T69128478A69130388. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T69128478A69130388.en. Accessed on 20 March 2023.
Hobbs, J-P.A., Newman, S.J., Mitsopoulos, G.E.A., Travers, M.J., Skepper, C.L., Gilligan, J.J., Allen, G.R., Choat, H.J. & Ayling, A.M. 2014. Checklist and new records of Christmas Island fishes: the influence of isolation, biogeography and habitat availability on species abundance and community composition. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 30: 184–202
Hobbs, J-P.A., Newman, S .J., Mitsopoulos, G.E.A., Travers, M.J., Skepper, C.L., Gilligan, J.J., Allen, G.R., Choat, H.J. & Ayling, A.M. 2014. Fishes of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands: new records, community composition and biogeographic significance. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 30: 203–219
Kuiter, R.H. 1992. Tropical Reef-Fishes of the Western Pacific, Indonesia and Adjacent Waters. Jakarta : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama 314 pp. pls.
Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. A comprehensive reference for divers and fishermen. Sydney, NSW, Australia : New Holland Publishers xvii, 434 pp.
Larson, H.K. & Murdy, E.O. 2001. Microdesmidae. pp. 3607-3608 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds) The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 6 pp. 3381-4218.
Randall, J.E. 2005. Reef and shore fishes of the South Pacific. New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press 707 pp.
Randall, J.E. & Allen, G.R. 1973. A revision of the gobiid fish genus Nemateleotris, with descriptions of two new species. Quarterly Journal of the Taiwan Museum 26(3, 4): 347-367 figs 1-7
Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs.
Randall, J. E. & Connell, A.D. 2013. Nemateleotris exquisita, a new microdesmid fish from the Indian Ocean (Perciformes: Microdesmidae). Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation 8: 18-29. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1041970 (described as Nemateleotris exquisita, type locality Mauritius)
Tea, Y.-K. & Larson, H.K. 2023. Synopsis of the ptereleotrine goby genus Nemateleotris, with description of a new species from the western and central Pacific Ocean (Teleostei: Gobiidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 71: 248-266 See ref online
