Trimma taylori Lobel, 1979
Most gobies are bottom-dwellers but these tiny orange-yellow ones hover in loose groups of often 50 or more under overhangs and in caves. They typically orient ventrally to the wall or ceiling. Although common, they are easily overlooked because of their small size and translucent bodies. They feed on planktonic crustaceans, mostly copepods. The name honors marine biologist and author Leighton Taylor, director of the Waikïkï Aquarium from 1975-1986. Ichthyologists enjoy an in-joke here: the gobies have bare heads (i.e. lack scales on the tops of their heads), and Dr. Taylor is not hirsute. Discovered in Hawai`i, Taylor's Gobies are now known throughout most of the Indo-Pacific. To about 1 in. Photo: Püpükea, O`ahu. 40 ft. (At lower left: a tiny juvenile Psychedelic Wrasse, Anampses chrysocephalus.)