Subterranean Fishes of the World

3880

2003

Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien

11-25

104B

Typhlogobius californiensis inhabits burrows of the ghost shrimp Callinassa biffari along the east Pacific coast of Mexico and the USA. Although blind, this goby displays characteristic reductions of the lateral line system. Large parts of the head, the trunk and the caudal fin are not covered by neuromasts and the head canals are reduced to the interorbital sections of the supraorbital canals. Only on the snout, the suborbital area and the ventral side of the head free neuromasts are more densely arranged. Many neuromast rows are short, consisting of a few or a single neuromast only, some may lack. Nevertheless the neuromasts are arranged in a typical pattern. T. californiensis is the only member of a small Pacific group of gobiid fishes which still has a remnant of the head canal system. Its lateral line system is described in detail. Key words: Gobiidae, Typhlogobius californiensis, lateral line system, east Pacific.

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