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Leopard gobi, Thorogobius ephippiatus, is a shy and timid fish and is considered a rare species for divers to encounter. We find it quite often in coralligenous seabeds that vary from 38 to 42 meters deep as in this case. It is probably considered rare because it lives in ravines and holes that are quite inaccessible to cameras and therefore it is very difficult to see.
Leopard-spotted goby -Thorogobius ephippiatus – Ghiozzo leopardo – www.intotheblue.it
Leopard gobi (Thorogobius ephippiatus) is a sea fish belonging to the Gobiidae family.
Distribution and habitat
It is widespread in the western Mediterranean Sea and on the European Atlantic coasts between the Canaries and the British Isles.
It is found mainly in caves and crevices of hard seabeds between 5 and 40 m deep.
Description
It has a fairly typical goby shape, what differentiates this species from the others is the presence of round spots all over its body. These spots are usually red on the head and dark (sometimes black) on the body. The background color is gray.
It usually does not exceed 10 cm in length.
Leopard-spotted goby -Thorogobius ephippiatus – Ghiozzo leopardo – www.intotheblue.it
Diet
It feeds on small invertebrates.
Biology
It is a very suspicious species and very difficult to capture and observe since it burrows as soon as you get close. Probably for this reason it was considered a very rare species until a few years ago, which is not true.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorogobius_ephippiatus
As always on intotheblue.it we try to document the marine species we encounter but also the condition of our sea and our ecosystems. As you can see from the video, mucilage has now become a constant in our dives, this should alarm us because it confirms the fact that the average annual temperature of the Mediterranean Sea is increasing every year.
In the summer of 2024 our computers often recorded temperatures of 30 and 31° on the surface within the first ten meters. At about 40 meters deep the water temperature often exceeds 20° and more. These conditions will probably not stop in the coming years and the probability of radical and permanent changes in our sea is now inevitable, we can only monitor and hope that a common and global conscience awakens!
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