Trimma panemorfum is the new official name of the beautiful and strikingly patterned goby photographed in Palau way back in 2016. The colorful new Trimma goby was first seen by Dr. Richard Pyle as far back as 1997 but the first specimens were collected by Dr. Luiz Rocha at a depth of 400 feet at Uchelbeluu Reef, Palau, western Pacific Ocean.
A very similar looking fish was photographed in 2018 in Bali at a depth of 100 meters so Trimma panemorfum might be more widespread than we know, but only limited by its preference for very deep mesophotic reef environments. There’s a lot of Trimma numbering over 100 different species, many of them with muted coloration or subtle patterns but Trimma panemorfum is not one of them. The new deep living goby goes by the official common name of ‘exquisite pygmygoby’ which is very fitting for the orange and blue fish.
The body is mostly a golden-orange all over with vivid yellow eyes and bright blue eye shadow which extends to two blue lines across the body, and four smaller vertical blue lines between the eyes and pectoral fin. With Biota based in Palau and having already bred many species of Eviota dwarf gobies the newly described exquisite pygmy goby seems like a perfect candidate for captive breeding efforts as the attractive coloration would surely make for an awesome nano aquarium fish.
