Eviota melasma Lachner & Karnella, 1980
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Eviota melasma, commonly called headspot eviota or melasma pygmy goby among various other vernacular names, is a species of marine fish in the family Gobiidae.
The headspot eviota has been documented only in Australia; records of the fish elsewhere are thought to be misidentifications. The fish is found on offshore reefs and coastal reefs, just below the tidal zone.
The headspot eviota is a small-sized fish, growing up to 30 millimetres (1.2 in) length. It is a semi-transparent pygmy goby marked with irregular rufous internal bars along the length of its body, with a black spot above the opening of the gills, irregular reddish blotches on its nape, and three reddish blotches which are separated by whitish barring on the belly. It also has a thin white stripe at the base of the pectoral fin.
Wikipedia contributors, Eviota melasma; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:32:11.450794+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Eviota melasma Lachner & Karnella, 1980
- Name authority
- Lachner & Karnella, 1980
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Gobiiformes
- Family
- Gobiidae
- Genus
- Eviota
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderGobiiformes
- familyGobiidae Cuvier, 1816
- subfamilyGobiinae Cuvier, 1816
- genusEviota Jenkins, 1903
- speciesEviota melasma Lachner & Karnella, 1980
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Eviota. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Eviota abax (Jordan & Snyder, 1901) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota asymbasia Greenfield & Jewett, 2016 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota atriventris Greenfield & Suzuki, 2012 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota bifasciata Lachner & Karnella, 1980 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| comet dwarfgobyEviota cometa Jewett & Lachner, 1983 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota deminuta Tornabene, Ahmadia & Williams, 2013 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota disrupta Karnella & Lachner, 1981 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| twospot dwarfgobyEviota distigma Jordan & Seale, 1906 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota dorsimaculata Tornabene, Ahmadia & Williams, 2013 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| creamback dwarfgobyEviota dorsogilva Greenfield & Randall, 2011 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota dorsopurpurea Greenfield & Randall, 2011 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eviota epiphanes Jenkins, 1903 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Lachner, E. A., & Karnella, S. J. (1980). Fishes of the Indo-Pacific genus Eviota with descriptions of eight new species (Teleostei: Gobiidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, No. 315: i–iii + 1–127. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.315 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3DHM5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.