Seven-figure Pygmy Goby

Eviota sigillata

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiiformes
Family: Gobiidae
Genus: Eviota
Species: Eviota sigillata

The seven-figure pygmy goby (Eviota sigillata) is one of the shortest-lived vertebrates known, a tiny goby that lives only around eight weeks. Its translucent body is marked with small dark and reddish spots.

Reaching just 2 cm, it spends about three weeks as larvae in the plankton, then settles on the reef, matures within a couple of weeks and breeds before dying. It lives among coral rubble and on reef surfaces, feeding on tiny plankton.

The seven-figure pygmy goby occurs across the Indo-Pacific, including the Philippines, where it lives on shallow reefs and rubble.

Photo: Debra Baker, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist