Periophthalmus modestus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Gobiidae (Gobies)
Periophthalmus
Periophthalmus modestus
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: elongated. Distinguished by the following characteristics: pelvic fins united anteriorly by a moderate
to strong frenum; medial rays united by a membrane for about half their length; D 1 height moderate, its margin rounded, a dusky stripe inframarginally and no spots on fin, no elongate spines; D2 with single dusky stripe inframarginally; dorsal fins not connected by membrane;
D I with 1O-l7 spines; longitudinal scale count 75-100; head width 14.1-19.8% SL; pelvic fin length 11.5-14.6% SL; length of anal fin base 16.1-22.2% SL; length of D2 base 19.8-24.1 % SL; total D2 elements 12-14; total anal fin elements 11-13; TRDB 19-29 (Ref. 5218).
Distribution
Northwest Pacific: Vietnam (Ref. 44416), northward to Korea and southern Japan (Ref. 559).
Habitat Associations
Freshwater, brackish, marine. demersal. Found in: estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs.
Biology
Intertidal, actively shuttling back and forth between rock pools and air (Ref. 31184). They breathe air when out of water (Ref. 31184). Can stay out of the water for up to 22-60 hours if kept moist (Ref. 51276). Inhabits level mudflats with no vegetation (Ref. 92840). Found in estuaries, swamps, marshy areas and tidal mud flats. Moves around briskly on land preying on small animals. Used in Chinese medicine (Ref. 12166).
Max length: 10.0 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2024-03-19. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest; aquarium: commercial.
References
Murdy, E.O. (1989) A taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of the oxudercine gobies (Gobiidae: Oxudercinae). Rec. Aust. Mus., Suppl. 11:1-93. DOI: 10.3853/j.0812-7387.11.1989.93
Man, S.H. and I.J. Hodgkiss (1981) Hong Kong freshwater fishes. Urban Council, Wishing Printing Company, Hong Kong, 75 p.
Martin, K.L.M. and C.R. Bridges (1999) Respiration in water and air. p. 54-78. In M.H. Horn, K.L.M. Martin and M.A. Chotkowski (eds.) Intertidal fishes. Life in two worlds. Academic Press. 399 p.
Comments On Periophthalmus modestus