Frog Goby

Amazing fact

Male frog gobies shake their heads and often make sounds during courtship.

国立環境研究所

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

Male frog gobies shake their heads and often make sounds during courtship.

Source国立環境研究所 — ヌマチチブ

THE REAL WORLD

The real Frog Goby

Scientific name: Tridentiger brevispinis
Japanese name: ヌマチチブ
Group: Freshwater animals

Order: Gobiiformes
Family: Gobiidae
Genus: Tridentiger

Facts about the real animal.

It lives in Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, and on the islands of Iki and Tsushima.

鳥羽水族館 — ヌマチチブ

It lives from the middle reaches of rivers down to the river mouths.

鳥羽水族館 — ヌマチチブ

The young grow up in the sea and then swim up the rivers.

鳥羽水族館 — ヌマチチブ

How the Frog Goby lives

It is common in slow or still water and lives in places with rocks or fallen trees. It mainly eats algae growing on surfaces. From spring to summer, it lays eggs on the undersides of stones on the riverbed. The male guards the eggs until the young hatch.

国立環境研究所公益財団法人四万十川財団

Basic data

Range: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Iki, and Tsushima

鳥羽水族館

Where the Frog Goby has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesJapan Rivers and wetlands Coasts

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: ヌマチチブ
简体中文: 短棘缟虾虎鱼
繁體中文: 短棘縞鰕虎魚
한국어: 민물검정망둑
Русский: Короткоперый трехзубый бычок

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — ヌマチチブChecked: 2026-11-04
国立環境研究所 — ヌマチチブChecked: 2026-11-07
公益財団法人四万十川財団 — 四万十川の魚１６７ヌマチチブChecked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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