goby

[goh-bee]

noun

plural

goby ,

plural

gobies .

1. any small marine or freshwater fish of the family Gobiidae, often having the pelvic fins united to form a suctorial disk.

2. any fish of the closely related family Eleotridae, having the pelvic fins separate.

goby

/ ˈɡəʊbɪ /

noun

1. any small spiny-finned fish of the family Gobiidae, of coastal or brackish waters, having a large head, an elongated tapering body, and the ventral fins modified as a sucker

2. any other gobioid fish

Word History and Origins

Origin of goby¹

1760–70; < Latin gōbius gudgeon (spelling variant of gōbiō or cōbius ) < Greek kōbiós

Word History and Origins

Origin of goby¹

C18: from Latin gōbius gudgeon, fish of little value, from Greek kōbios

Example Sentences

To save the gobies from that fate, scientists and citizen volunteers arrived on Jan. 17 and used giant nets that served as sieves to retrieve the fish that rarely exceed a length of two inches.

From Los Angeles Times

Another endangered fish, northern tidewater gobies, were rescued from the same watershed shortly before the steelhead were liberated.

From Los Angeles Times

Less than a week before the trout were evacuated, 760 northern tidewater gobies — tiny endangered fish — were scooped out of the same watershed and transported to aquariums.

From Los Angeles Times

Tidewater gobies are a hardy fish fallen on hard luck.

From Los Angeles Times

On their honeymoon, they went to a southern point in San Diego to collect goby fish specimens.

From Scientific American