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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: yellowfin goby
Synonyms and Other Names: mahaze, Japanese river goby.
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: Distinguishing characteristics, and illustrations or photographs were provided by Berg (1949); Miller and Lea (1972); Moyle (1976a); Eschmeyer et al. (1983); and Masuda et al. (1984). The species was included in keys of Berg (1949); Miller and Lea (1972); and Moyle (1976a).
Size: 30 cm.
Native Range:
Fresh, brackish and marine. Japan, Korea, and China (Eschmeyer et al. 1983; Masuda et al. 1984; Meng et al. 1994).
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Hawaii |
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Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences: Introduced to California; the first records in that state were based on two specimens found in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, San Joaquin County, in early 1963. The first of these fish was trawled from the lower San Joaquin River near Venice Island, and the second specimen was taken from the Stockton Deepwater Channel near the Calaveras River (Brittan et al. 1963; Shapovalov et al. 1981). The species later was found in surrounding areas including Suisan, San Pablo, and San Francisco bays, the Sacramento Delta, the Yolo Bypass, Bolinas Lagoon, Delta-Mendota Canal, and the San Luis Reservoir in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Merced, Napa (possibly), San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties (Brittan et al. 1970; Moyle 1976a; Courtenay et al. 1986; Wang 1986; Sommer et al. 2001). Specimens also were taken in Elkhorn Slough, Monterey County (Kukowski 1972; Wang 1986), and Tomales Bay, Moss Landing Harbor, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County (Miller and Lea 1972; Wang 1986; Tilmant 1999). The first records of this species in southern California were from the Los Angeles Harbor area, Los Angeles County, in 1977 (Haaker 1979); subsequently specimens were found in Long Beach Harbor and near the mouth of the Los Angeles River, Los Angeles County; in the San Gabriel River, Upper Newport Bay, and upstream to San Diego Creek, Orange County; and in Ballona Marsh and Mugu Lagoon (Haaker 1979; Allen 1982; Swift et al. 1993). This species was reported, apparently in small numbers, from other coastal areas of southern California including Malibu Lagoon, San Onofre, San Mateo, Las Pulgas, and Santa Margarita lagoons, and Morro Bay (Swift et al. 1993). In 1980, the species was reported as occurring in San Diego (perhaps extending as far south as Baja California Norte, Mexico) (Courtenay et al. 1986). Williams et al. (1998) reported them from San Diego Bay marshes but gave the first date for that area as 1984.
Means of Introduction: Initial and possibly later introductions were probably by way of ballast water carried in transoceanic ships (Brittan et al. 1963). It also is hypothesized that introduced gobies arrived as eggs on fouling organisms, such as oysters, growing on ship hulls (Hubbs and Miller 1965; Eschmeyer et al. 1983). Although first collected in 1963, the yellowfin goby was probably introduced into California in 1959 or 1960, likely about the same time as the chameleon goby (Brittan et al. 1970; Meng et al. 1994). Once established, this species spread in California, probably as a result of its own dispersal abilities, and sometimes with the aid of currents; in addition, dispersal may have resulted from the species' possible use as a baitfish (Brittan et al. 1970; Courtenay and Hensley 1979a).
Status: Established in coastal and inland waters of central and southern California.
Impact of Introduction: In at least one saltwater location, yellowfin gobies were reported to have partially replaced Pacific staghorn sculpins Leptocottus armatus (Brittan et al. 1970). There also is concern that the yellowfin goby might outcompete and possibly eliminate freshwater populations of the small and endangered tidewater goby Eucyclogobius newberryi (Moyle 1976a). Meng et al. (1994) suggested that environmental disturbances, coupled with the introduction of this and other foreign species, are altering fish communities and hastening declines of native fishes in California. Although Meng et al. (1994) found that the yellowfin goby has an impact on the introduced chameleon goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus, recent investigations have shown this species is actually the shimofuri goby Tridentiger bifasciatus (not the chameleon goby) that occurs in Suisun Bay where the study was conducted (Fleming, personal communication). Hence, it is the shimofuri goby that is affected.
Remarks:
The yellowfin goby underwent a population explosion in the San Francisco area in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Brittan et al. 1970). In 1967, a fish kill occurred in the San Luis Reservoir, which receives freshwater from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. About half of the approximately 10,000 fishes killed in this incident were A. flavimanus (Brittan et al. 1970). Apparently another massive die-off occurred in Rodeo Lagoon in 1981 and was thought to be caused by low salinity (<5 ppt) (Wang 1984).
The species first was reported from Suisan Marsh, a portion of the San Francisco Bay estuary, in 1967 (Brittan et al. 1970); by the early 1980s its population in that area had grown and it was reported as the third most abundant fish in 1980-1982 trawl catches by Meng et al. (1994). Recent drought conditions in California have reduced freshwater outflows and may have allowed this goby to gain an advantage over native freshwater and estuarine fishes less able to tolerate high salinity conditions (Herbold et al. 1992; Meng et al. 1994). Meng et al. (1994) presented a figure showing the annual relative abundance of chameleon and yellowfin gobies taken in trawls over the period 1979 to 1992. Brittan et al. (1970), Courtenay and Hensley (1979a), and Lee et al. (1980 et seq.) provided maps showing this species distribution in California.
Voucher specimens: California (CAS 14405, LACM 37711-1, 39764-6, 44205-1).
Berg, L. S. 1948-1949. Freshwater fishes of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries, 4th edition. Three volumes. Translated from Russian, 1962-1965, for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, by Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, Israel. Volume 1:504 pp.; volume 2:496 pp.; volume 3:510 pp.
Brittan, M., A. Albrecht, and J. Hopkirk. 1963. An oriental goby collected in the San Joaquin River delta near Stockton, California. California Fish and Game 49(4):302-304.
Brittan, M. R., J. D. Hopkirk, J. D. Conners, and M. Martin. 1970. Explosive spread of the oriental goby Acanthogobius flavimanus in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region of California. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 38:207-214.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., and D. A. Hensley. 1979a. Survey of introduced non-native fishes. Phase I Report. Introduced exotic fishes in North America: status 1979. Report Submitted to National Fishery Research Laboratory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gainesville, FL.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. A. Hensley, J. N. Taylor, and J. A. McCann. 1986. Distribution of exotic fishes in North America. Pages 675-698 in C. H. Hocutt, and E. O. Wiley, editors. The zoogeography of North American freshwater fishes. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
Eschmeyer, W. N., E. S. Herald, and H. Hamann. 1983. A field guide to Pacific Coast fishes of North America. Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA.
Haaker, P. 1979. Two asiatic gobiid fishes, Tridentiger trigonocephalus and Acanothogobius flavimans, in southern California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 78:56-61.
Herbold, B. A., A. D. Jassby, and P. B. Moyle. 1992. Status and trends report on aquatic resources in the San Francisco estuary. EPA Public Report, San Francisco, CA.
Hubbs, C. L., and R. R. Miller. 1965. Studies of cyprinodontid fishes. XXII: variation in Lucania parva, its establishment in western United States, and description of a new species from an interior basin in Coahuila, Mexico. Miscellaneous Publications of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 127. pp. 1-104.
Kukowski, G. E. 1972. Southern range extension for the yellowfin goby, Acanthogobius flavimanus (Temminck and Schlegel). California Fish and Game 58(4):326-327.
Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980 et seq. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, NC.
Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno, and T. Yoshino, editors. 1984. The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Tokai University Press. Text: i-xxii + 437 pp.; atlas: pls. 1-370.
Meng, L., P. B. Moyle, and B. Herbold. 1994. Changes in abundance and distribution of native and introduced fishes of Suisun Marsh. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 123:498-507.
Miller, D. J., and R. N. Lea. 1972. Guide to the coastal marine fishes of California. Fish Bulletin of the California Department of Fish and Game 157:1-235.
Moyle, P. B. 1976a. Inland fishes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Shapovalov, L., A.J. Cordone, and W.A. Dill. 1981. A list of freshwater and anadromous fishes of
Sommer, T, B. Harrell, M. Nobriga, R. Brown, P. Moyle, W. Kimmerer, and L. Schemel. 2001.
Swift, C. C., T. R. Haglund, M. Ruiz, and R. N. Fisher. 1993. The status and distribution of the freshwater fishes of southern California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 92(3):101-167.
Tilmant, J.T. 1999. Management of nonindigenous aquatic fish in the U.S. National Park System. National Park Service. 50 pp.
Wang, J.C.S. 1986. Fishes of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary and Adjacent Waters, California: A Guide to the Early Life Histories. Berkeley Digital Library Project .
Other Resources:
FishBase Fact Sheet
Author: Leo Nico and Pam Fuller
Revision Date: 8/16/2004 Citation for this information:
Leo Nico and Pam Fuller. 2009. Acanthogobius flavimanus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=707> Revision Date: 8/16/2004
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