200 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



EAST COAST GOBIES 



Since 1888 the list of Gobies, before then stand- 

 ing at only one solitary species the Spotted Goby 

 (Gobitis minutus) Pagefs, 1 1 have had the satisfac- 

 tion of bringing up to five: the Yellow-spotted 

 Goby (Gobius auratus) in 1888, Rock Goby 

 (G. niger) in 1889, White Goby (Latrunculus 

 pellucidus) in 1890, and the Two -spotted Goby 

 (Gobius ruihensparri) in 1891. The first Yellow- 

 spotted Goby I ever recognised I pulled out of the 

 mouth of a Whiting, its tail only protruding. Great 

 numbers are taken every year in the shrimpers' nets. 

 It is a marine species. The Spotted Goby is equally 

 at home in ^brackish and even fresh water. I have seen 

 it at the Burgh end of Breydon, scuttling about in 

 little pools left in the ronds. It has an odd habit of 

 stirring up the soft mud around it into quite a 

 smoky sort of cloud, when it either hides there until 

 danger is past, or, in the confusion caused to any 

 interfering enemy, manages to bolt to some other 

 location. My experience with the White Goby was 

 interesting. A shrimp lad had saved a specimen for 



1 Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth, by C. J. and J. Paget, 

 1834. 



