Ringeye Pygmy Goby

Trimma benjamini

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiiformes
Family: Gobiidae
Genus: Trimma
Species: Trimma benjamini

The ringeye pygmy goby (Trimma benjamini) is a tiny, translucent orange-red goby with a ring of colour around each eye. Its body is often dotted with small yellow or orange spots.

It grows to only about 2-3 cm. It hovers in small groups in caves, under overhangs and along reef walls, often upside down beneath ledges, feeding on tiny zooplankton.

The ringeye pygmy goby is found in the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where it lives in the shade of overhangs and crevices on reef slopes and walls.

Photo: Jean-Paul Boerekamps, CC0 1.0, via iNaturalist