Hobbies And Interests
Physical Characteristics
The goby fish have developed physical characteristics that make them well adapted to a bottom-feeding lifestyle. These fish tend to dwell on the bottoms of rivers, lakes or tanks, where there's less competition from other species. The goby's eyes are set high on the top of its head, allowing it to still see when buried in mud. The top of the fish is camouflaged against the lake bed, and many wild gobies, such as the round goby, have mottled backs in green, black and brown. Goby fish also have the ability to sense and detect movements in the water around them and they use this ability to hunt. This allows them to not only live but to thrive in cloudy, murky waters where there is little light.
Food Sources
Goby fish have adapted to survive on a wide range of foods. In the wild, gobies will eat small fish as well as the eggs laid by competing species. They are extremely aggressive fish when it comes to hunting, and they also feed on young specimens of large fish, including bass, trout and walleye. Freshwater gobies will also feed on shelled creatures, such as zebra mollusks, and can eat dozens in a single day. Gobies that are kept in home aquariums will fulfill a similar role, adapted to act both as bottom-feeders and to graze on frozen or freeze-dried worms.
Reproduction
Efficient reproduction ensures the success of the species, and goby fish have developed a prolific ability to spawn and reproduce. Instead of producing eggs once or twice a year, the goby can spawn many times throughout the summer season. Each time the female goby lays a batch of eggs that are visited by a male, the result will be thousands of fertilized eggs. While not all of these will survive to adulthood, the ability of the goby to produce numerous batches of eggs each season means that the population can quickly multiply.
Habitat
Many fish are known as either freshwater or saltwater fish, and a few species can survive in the brackish waters of swamps. Some of the species of goby fish can survive in all three types of environments, adapted to salty conditions as well as freshwater. The round goby originated in the salty conditions of Eurasian lakes, such as the Caspian Sea, and was transferred into the Great Lakes and surrounding freshwater lakes by attaching itself to boats and living in the ballast water of ships that voided their contents into the lakes. The round goby has also been found in other smaller lakes where it has become a nuisance because of aggressive adaptions that allow it to out-compete native species. Aquarium gobies, such as the bumblebee, can survive in freshwater or brackish aquariums, and the mudskipper goby has even adapted to life on land, able to absorb oxygen through its skin for short periods of time.