| Author: Peter Del BosqueFounder of Socialeaf, Peter's bio can be found by clicking on this Google+ link.
The goby fish is one of the largest families of fish in the world. They are predominantly a small fish ranging in size from 1cm up to 30cm in extreme cases. Although they are a small fish and not generally used as a food source for humans, they certainly are an important feeder fish for larger fish that are commercially harvested for human consumption.
Rock climbing goby is at 10:15
Since many types of gobies can be found in various types of water environments ranging from salty tide pools to freshwater streams, the goby is a very versatile fish to study. Also, gobies are quite interesting in that they have unique characteristics that aren’t commonly found on most fish such as, fused pectoral fins, fused anal fins or connected dorsal fins. Some lack a swim bladder, such as the tadpole, monkey, and bighead gobies, and some breathe through their skin and have taken to land like frogs. Another interesting characteristic is that some gobies have evolved suckers to allow them to adhere and climb rocks. These unique and sometimes strange characteristics are directly attributed to living in extreme environments.
In the case of the Hawaiian, Nopoli rock-climbing goby, also called the Stimpson’s goby, it is one of the types of gobies that have evolved suckers. This particular goby uses its pair of suckers that are located between its pectoral fins to climb beautiful Hawaiian waterfalls up to 100 meters high in search of its favorite vegetarian meal, algae.
What makes the Nopoli goby very unique is that the pectoral suckers have two important jobs, one is used for climbing and the other is used for climbing and feeding. While it is widely known that this particular goby has these extreme characteristics, it was never evident which evolved first, the ability to feed or the ability to climb.
In a recent study by, Joshua A. Cullen, Takashi Maie, Heiko L. Schoenfuss, and Richard W. Blob, funded by the US National Science Foundation, the researchers compared feeding and climbing abilities by filming, observing and assessing their findings between 3 different types of suction feeding gobies, the Sicyopterus stimpsoni, the Awaous guamensis and Lentipes concolor.,.
Unfortunately through rigorous testing and observation, the findings could not determine whether sucker movements for climbing ability spawned from feeding or whether sucker movements for feeding spawned the ability to climb. In any case, the researchers say that the study can be used to help bring us closer to understanding evolutionary mechanisms for organisms living in extreme environments.
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