Ascension Goby (Priolepis ascensionis)

M

MitchReef

President, F.R.A.G.
I occasionally post this search on the web boards. I have a little Upside-Down fish named Dizzy. I've had him for over a year and a half. I know another person here in greater Orlando who has one and once got a reply from a man in Scotland who has one. The fish is a Priolepis ascensionis, or Ascension Goby. Their range in nature is around Ascension Island and St. Helena in the South Atlantic. It's really cool to see him out around the tank free-swimming upside-down.

I know they are unusual in the hobby, but I cannot imagine that I have one of three in captivity. If anybody else has this amazing fish, please respond here. I would love to see Dizzy's cousins...

Here he is:
IMG_0280.jpg

CIMG1549.jpg

Dizzy4.jpg


Thanks for looking,
Mitch
 
I started a thread about them like a year ago, but haven't searched for it in quite a while...I will try to search again, thanks
 
Hi Mitch,
What a coincidence!
My name is also Mitch, and I have a pair of these for nearly three years. Thanks for the ID!
They are always upside down, even when swimming out in the open.
One has a belly so fat it looks like it swallowed a pea.

I'll try to get a pic.
 
Sweet, these little guys are so cool....I searched and searched when I first got them and the only reference I found was the German (or is it Dutch) Meerwasser Lexicon, but there was basically no info there except just an ID. WetWebMedia didn't have any real info on them except their natural range and such. I just love Dizzy and love to see him out free-swimming, belly Up, so to speak!

I would love a picture of yours.

Mitch
 
I picked one up off the Diver's Den about 1 1/2 years ago. It likes to hang out on the underside of the live rock in my 215 gallon reef tank. I see him come out every now and then - always a nice suprise & a cool little fish.
 
Priolepis ascensionis pair

Priolepis ascensionis pair

Finally got a picture of the pair!
Got them nearly 3 years ago at Suffolk County Fish and Reef.
They are ALWAYS upside down, even when swimming in open water, and one of them has always looked like it just swallowed a pea.

125081Priolepis_ascensionis.jpg
 
Me!!!! I have one. Is not yet at home...but willing to. In a couple of weeks will be my first marine fish at home. Itás a wonderfull inverted fellow.....first sight love!!
 
iamwhatiam52 said:
Finally got a picture of the pair!
Got them nearly 3 years ago at Suffolk County Fish and Reef.
They are ALWAYS upside down, even when swimming in open water, and one of them has always looked like it just swallowed a pea.

125081Priolepis_ascensionis.jpg
Click to expand...

UPDATE:
One of mine vanished a month ago so I figure it was about 5 years in the tank.
The survivor is fine.

These are VERY nice fish and better looking than the pics we posted.
 
Very cool fish! Years ago I owned a Priolepis nocturna... the most secretive fish I've known, evidenced by the fact that the photo I included of him in my TOTM article seven years ago was him IN THE BAG...:D

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/totm/index.php

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/totm/images/Clipboard01.htm

I was attracted to your thread by the reference to P. ascensionis and thus Ascension Island. Having owned Ascension fish in the past (Centropyge resplendens), and being familiar with the very few collection trips there in the past decade, I knew that the species designation for this fish of P. ascensionis was wrong.

But, to conclusively identify this species without knowing the collection locale was beyond my skillset, so I enlisted some help and fired off the photos... after all the family Gobiidae is one of the largest at over 2000 species and growing...

The two ichthyologists I emailed were Dr. Jack Randall and Dr. Rick Winterbottom. Jack is a good friend and the Godfather of modern ichthyology... simply put he's described more more valid reef fish species than any ichthyologist in history... now over 700 and still growing, despite Jack now being well into his 80s! He has a ton of species named in his honor with the species name randalli... and... yes... there is even a Priolepis randalli... :)

And if there was a Godfather of the genus Priolepis it would be Rick Winterbottom... he's the world expert on the genus, has done the most research, and described the most species of Priolepis... nearly half of the 30+ species! And, most recently Rick was given the nod by getting his own Priolepis named in his honor by two Japanese ichthyologists... Priolepis winterbottomi!

So in short, if there were two ideal people in the world to identify this species with the photos given it may be those two... and the good news I heard back from both and they independently gave the same ID... Priolepis semidoliatus... the half-barred goby! This makes much more sense, as this fish has a huge range throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans...

Happy Friday! :celeb1:

Copps
 
I regularly see Priolepis cincta/cinctus, when I dive off our local shore.
I just cant catch them, the little buggers withdraw into their mini cave and its impossible to flush them out without doing some sort of damage.
 
AfricaOffroad said:
I regularly see Priolepis cincta/cinctus, when I dive off our local shore.
I just cant catch them, the little buggers withdraw into their mini cave and its impossible to flush them out without doing some sort of damage.
Click to expand...

Very interesting... you guys have it made there in the "tropical" coastal side of South Africa... :spin3: I'll be living vicariously through the divers and footage shown of your waters starting this Sunday on the Discovery Channel for "Shark Week". While they film plenty of footage further to the south in Great White land, there is a good bit of footage from your neck of the woods near Aliwal Shoal that I watch like my two year old daughter watching "Dora the Explorer"! I'm always amazed of the tropical species that have made it down to you guys in Durban... :)

On a side note, Rick Winterbottom is originally from Zambia and has done field expeditions on your reefs there in SA...
 
prio.jpg


Sorry for the quality of the image....here it is!

Priolepis are great tiny people. I wish i could finf P.nocturna in Spain.....not easy.
 
So is there a similar species in Atlantic waters? I have seen collectors from the Florida Keys offer a fish that appears to be similar.

I also have one of these fish. It has a favorite overhang that it lives under and comes out only for pieces of food. It is a hardy fish for such a little thing, and always upside down.
 
Yes... the Atlantic species we do see is Priolepis hipoliti, the Rusty goby... not P. ascensionis... these are the ones collected in Florida... Matt Pederson spawned these last year...

Copps
 
Copps hit the nail on the head, I concur that the correct species posted here is Priolepis semidoliatus, and not P. ascensionis. As far as I know, P. ascensionis has never made it into the aquarium trade.
 
From what I saw back in the Ascension collection days... and the more recent poaching runs where a boat swung through... over 99% of the Ascension catch was Centropyge resplendens, with a sprinkle of other fish like Prognathodes dichrous and Chaetodon sanctaehelenae... but with the prices those garnered in relation to how easy they were to catch I cannot imagine them ever messing with a Priolepis, so I'd suspect this species has never been collected for the trade...

Copps
 
Copps,

I guess I lost track of this thread some time ago. Unfortunately I also lost my Goby some time ago too....

I am a bit surprised to read the correction info about the species of my little fish. I will have to pass this along to Bob Fenner because he was quite interested in the fish, and gave me a good bit of info about them coming primarily from St. Helena. I know it came from a LFS operated by very informed Aquaculturalists who ID'd it as P. ascensionis.....

Thanks for the update, as I certainly don't doubt the authorities you referenced!
 
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