Description

The Blue Speckled Shrimp Goby (Cryptocentrus caeruleomaculatus) is a common inhabitant of the silty shallow areas. They are also known as the Eight-barred Shrimp-goby. As their name implies they have a symbiotic relationship with species of alpheid shrimp.

The shrimp constructs a burrow in the sand and both parties live in the burrow. The goby acts as a guard for the shrimp which has poor eye sight. Both species gain protection and more from this relationship making it a true symbiotic relationship.

The Blue Speckled Shrimp Goby has a proportionally elongated body and large eyes on the top of their head giving them a good field of vision. The base body colour is a light yellow greenish colour and there are eight darker reddish colored bars on the body. These bars seem more prominent on the smaller specimens. As their name suggests the body is covered in light blue spots. On some specimens there are red dots as well. The pelvic fins are well developed and the fish use these to perch on. They grow up to 9 cm in length. Ref: https://seaunseen.com/blue-speckled-shrimp-goby/