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Freshwater Gobies of Fiji

Freshwater streams and rivers within Fiji and the wider Indo-Pacific are inhabited by the agile and often beautiful fishes from the family Gobiidae. There are more different species of gobies in the world than any other vertebrate (animals with a backbone). Fiji is no exception with gobies representing the most numerous fish species in both freshwater and marine environments.

The four species depicted in this series of stamps are members of a single subfamily called Sicydiinae which should be highlighted in the Indo-Pacific as a flagship group of high potential for use in integrated catchment and river basin-level conservation and management as they: 1, use the entire catchment from headwaters to near-shore marine habitats as part of a specialized amphidromous life cycle; 2, contribute the most to the diversity of fish communities in insular systems of the region, including the highest levels of endemism and 3, are highly threatened due to the complex nature of their lifecycle and apparent sensitivity to hydrological regime change. This group exhibit an amphidromous life cycle, which is a specialized adaptation to the extreme climatic and hydrological variation of tropical island systems.

The cycle consists of spawning in freshwater, free embryos drifting downstream to the sea where they will remain during a planktonic phase before returning to rivers to grow and reproduce. As the larvae return to freshwater, often in mass migrations after heavy rainfall, local human populations have developed a culture of harvesting the larvae in huge numbers as an important source of protein. In Fiji these larval fishes are known as cigana but may well be known as other names in different Fijian dialects. This practice of larval harvest is widespread in the Indo-Pacific and is certainly unsustainable given burgeoning human populations and the complexity of the life cycle. It is this movement from ocean to rivers that is the key link in completing the amphidromous life cycle and crucial to maintaining the ecological integrity of insular freshwaters. These stamps aim to assist in highlighting this group for the Fiji Islands by providing awareness of their existence and threatened freshwater environment.

First day cover envelope - Awaous ocellaris (Broussonet, 1782) - This species is not of the subfamily Sicydiinae but is a very common inhabitant of Fiji's freshwater streams and also has an amphidromous life cycle. It is usually found on fine gravel bottoms from estuaries to fresh water of rivers. It ranges throughout Asia from India to the Philippines and north to Japan and through Oceania including Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. It will reach a maximum size of about 13 cm.

20 c - Sicyopterus lagocephalus (Pallas 1770) - This species is known from the Comoro Islands, Mascarene Islands, Sri Lanka and western Indonesia in the Indian Ocean, and from Indonesia to the Society Islands and Japan to Australia, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and now Fiji in the Pacific.  It is the most widely distributed of all Sicydiinae and may have the broadest natural distribution of any freshwater fish in the world. Within Fiji, this species has been found on all of the high islands and up to the highest elevations (up to 1200 m) where it is usually numerically dominant and often one of the only inhabitants along with freshwater eels. It is almost always found in moderate flowing to very swift clear streams with boulder-strewn bottoms often also with smaller gravel, sand and minimal silt. This species appears the most tolerant to a range of water qualities and is also the widest ranging of Fijian Sicydiinae. It will reach a maximum size of about 13 cm.

$1.10 - Stiphodon rutilaureus (Watson, 1996)

Melanesian species ranging from the northern   slopes  of  New  Guinea, Bismarck    Archipelago,    Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and now eastward to Fiji. It is usually found in swift, clear streams over rocky bottoms. In Fiji this species exists in clear streams on all of the high islands. This species is relatively small and tends to stick to the gravel feeding primarily on algae and reaching a maximum size of around 3 cm.

$ 1.20 - Sicyopus zosterophorum (Bleeker, 1857) - This species is known from Nias island, Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean to southern Japan, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. The easternmost limit of the species is apparently the Republic of Fiji in which this species has been seen on all of the largest islands including  Vanua  Levu,  Viti  Levu, Taveuni    and    Kadavu.  Sicyopuszosterophorum is most commonly found in fast moving, high gradient streams with  rocky  and  boulder substrate. A few specimens were examined for gut contents revealing a carnivorous diet of aquatic insects and crustaceans. In captivity thisspecies will only feed on live prey and will not take vegetable matter. This
species is relatively uncommon in Fijian streams and tends to only be found in clear, relatively unpolluted waterways. This species reaches a maximum
size of about 5 cm.

$2.00 - Stiphodon sp. - This is a beautiful new species of goby discovered in Fiji   by   biologists  from  Wetlands International-Oceania and University
of the South Pacific in 2003.   It was first found in Savura Creek near Suva but has since been collected on all the largest islands of Viti Levu, Vanua
Levu,  Taveuni,   and   Kadavu.  This species  is  only  known  from the Republic of Fiji where it is relatively common in swift, clear streams over rocky bottoms. This species reaches a maximum size of around 4 cm

$1.20	$1.10
20c	$2

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