Maiden goby
Amazing fact
Viewed from above, the maiden goby blends into the sand, hiding it from large predators.
Two Oceans Aquarium
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Viewed from above, the maiden goby blends into the sand, hiding it from large predators.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Maiden goby
- Scientific name
- Valenciennea puellaris
- Japanese name
- オトメハゼ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Gobiiformes
- Family
- Gobiidae
- Genus
- Valenciennea
It lives on shallow sandy-mud bottoms in coral reef areas, from south of Suruga Bay to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
It takes in food together with sand, strains it through its gills and spits the sand back out.
How the Maiden goby lives
It searches through sand for carrion and small invertebrates to eat. It often stays on the seabed rather than rising into the water. Adults are often found in pairs. When disturbed, it hides in a shallow burrow, often beneath rubble.
Two Oceans Aquarium宇久井ビジターセンターMuseums Victoria / Fishes of AustraliaBasic data
- Range
- From south of Suruga Bay to the Ryukyu and Ogasawara Islands, and the Indo-Pacific
Where the Maiden 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
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
- オトメハゼ
- 简体中文
- 大鳞凡塘鳢
- 繁體中文
- 點帶范氏塘鱧
- Français
- Gobie tacheté d'orange
- Deutsch
- Maiden-Schläfergrundel
- Português (Brasil)
- Góbio-de-pintas-laranja
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Bekut totol-jingga
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 — オトメハゼChecked: 2026-11-04
- Two Oceans Aquarium — Diamondback gobyChecked: 2026-11-07
- 宇久井ビジターセンター — オトメハゼChecked: 2026-11-07
- Museums Victoria / Fishes of Australia — Orangespotted Glidergoby, Valenciennea puellarisChecked: 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.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Gobiidae
MORE TO MEET
