Eleotris sandwicensis Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875
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
Eleotris sandwicensis, commonly known as the Sandwich Island sleeper, the Hawaiian sleeper, or oʻopu, is a species of fish in the family Eleotridae. Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, it can be found in marine, fresh, and brackish waters around the coast. Due to this capability of migrating between different marine environments, it is considered amphidromous. Eleotris sandwicensis is a dorso-ventrally flattened fish, almost like a smaller catfish. It varies in color, but is most commonly darker black/gray or brown with green/yellow spots surrounding its body. This fish can reach a length of 33 cm (13 in). It is locally important to commercial fisheries and is also used as bait by fishermen after larger fishes. In the Hawaiian language, the fish is also known as ʻoau, ʻowau, and hiʻu kole.
Wikipedia contributors, Eleotris sandwicensis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:34:55.871687+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Eleotris sandwicensis Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875
- Name authority
- Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Gobiiformes
- Family
- Eleotridae
- Genus
- Eleotris
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · 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
- familyEleotridae Bonaparte, 1835
- genusEleotris Bloch & Schneider, 1801
- speciesEleotris sandwicensis Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Eleotris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Eleotris acanthopomus Bleeker, 1853 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris fasciata Chen, 1964 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris mauritiana Bennett, 1832 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris oxycephala Temminck & Schlegel, 1845 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris pellegrini Maugé, 1984 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris senegalensis Steindachner, 1870 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris soaresi Playfair, 1867 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris tubularis Heller & Snodgrass, 1903 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris lutea Day, 1876 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris tecta Bussing, 1996 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| spinycheek sleeperEleotris pisonis (Gmelin, 1789) | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eleotris vomerodentata Maugé, 1984 | EleotridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Eleotris sandvicensis Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875 Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875 | synonym |
| Eleotris sandwichensis Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875 Vaillant & Sauvage, 1875 | synonym |
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.
- Vaillant, L. L., & Sauvage, H. E. (1875). Note sur quelques espèces nouvelles de poissons des îles Sandwich. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie (Sér. 3), v. 3: 278–287. 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:6F2Q4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.