The sharknose goby is everything you'd expect a goby to be, except in miniature format. These guys don't grow past 4 cm/1.6"! Despite their tiny size, they still manage to be eye-catchers with beautiful coloration. The species is a member of the genus Elacatinus, which is known as the neon gobies and has a total of around 25 members. A bunch of these are popular in the aquarium hobby, today's subject included. Differently colored colonies of sharknose gobies exist. In most of the ones available in the aquarium trade, the base color is black on top with an off-white belly. Across the length of the body runs a blueish lateral stripe that partially shifts to yellow closer to the head. The yellow stripes on both sides run through the eyes to meet at the tip of the nose. Other color variants may only have yellow color in the eye, or even lack it entirely, sporting a white streak rather than blue.
