Pandaka (fish) explained

Pandaka is a genus of fish in the goby subfamily, Gobionellinae, native to fresh, brackish and marine waters of Asia and the western Pacific Ocean. Some species in the genus are among the smallest fish in the world;^[1] the male P. pygmaea can be just 9mm in standard length at maturity.^[2]

The genus name is a word for a dwarf in the a number of languages of the Philippines and refers to the small size of these fish.^[3]

Species

There are currently seven recognized species in this genus:

• Pandaka bipunctata H. L. Wu, 2008
• Pandaka lidwilli (McCulloch, 1917) (dwarf tiger goby)
• Pandaka pusilla Herre, 1927 (tiny pygmy-goby)
• Pandaka pygmaea Herre, 1927 (dwarf pygmy goby)
• Pandaka rouxi (M. C. W. Weber, 1911) (Roux's pygmy-goby)
• Pandaka silvana (Barnard, 1943) (dwarfgoby)
• Pandaka trimaculata Akihito & Meguro, 1975

Notes and References

1. Mukai, T., et al. (2004). Genetic and geographical differentiation of Pandaka gobies in Japan. Ichthyological Research 51(3), 222-27.
2. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. (Eds.) Pandaka pygmaea. FishBase. 2011.
3. Web site: Order GOBIIFORMES: Family OXUDERCIDAE (p-z) . 11 August 2018 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 24 July 2018.