Pale Gudgeon

Facts about the Pale Gudgeon fish, it is commonly referred to and can also be termed as the Blacktail Goby or the Blue dungeon Dartfish in common English, while its binomial nomenclature stands at Ptereleotris heteroptera.

Physical description
The Pale Gudgeon are small bodied in general with a maximum adult length of 14 centimeters.
The color of the Pale Gudgeon ranges from a weak shade of blue to a pale bluish-gray shade with a notable black spot on its yellowish tail and sometimes with an orange streak, hence the name, Blacktail Goby.
Their dorsal fins are not aligned parallel and the 1st fin which is anteriorly elevated is lower than the 2nd fin which can be easily noted by simply onlooking.

Location
Mostly the Pale Gudgeon fish species are found in reef bases and lagoons. The Pale Gudgeon are widely spread and they can be located along the indo-pacific waters. The adults among the Pale Gudgeons live in pairs under coral rocks or rubble, while the juveniles stick together in large shoals of up to 500 in number. The Pale Gudgeon can be located at water depths of between 5m-15m and temperatures of 220 C-270 C. The general water condition that favors the species is normally saline in nature.

Eating habits
Their kind is omnivorous throughout the entire lifecycles. The adult Pale Gudgeons feed normally on zoo-planktons that have been current-borne and grow up to 3 meters in height. These zoo planktons always grow close to their habitats due to the healthy coral activity that takes place. For their own reasons, the Pale Gudgeons are known to have a strange connection while feeding since they do not separate any distance greater than 2 meters.

Survival tactics
The Pale Gudgeon is a major prey to water birds. As seen from the way the juveniles among them move in large schools, shows their way of protection from the looming bird predators. The adults, hardly move around as they are always under the protection of their habitats therefore, this reduces any chances of attacks from predators.

Health
The Pale Gudgeon is known to be very hardy and therefore resistant to many health problems. This could be brought about by the fact that, once they reach adulthood, the Pale Gudgeon do not move around too much which would cause exposure to diseases and their immune systems adapt very fast to new changing conditions. This also comes in handy in case there is need of transfer into an aquarium.

Importance to humans
As mentioned above, the Pale Gudgeon are a source of income to people as they are bought as aquarium fishes. Besides this, the Pale Gudgeon have no harm to the human beings especially during the fishing process unlike some other fish species although they are not edible.

Other characteristics
A very notable and outstanding characteristic of the Pale Gudgeon is that it is monogamous in nature.

Conclusion
The Pale Gudgeon is a shy and harmless fish species that plays a great part in bringing about a positive effect on the natural ecological cycle. The Pale Gudgeon should therefore be protected from looming dangers brought about by some environmental unfriendly practices such as water pollution which destroys their natural habitat.