Goby Family
[family Gobiidae]

Gobies constitute one of the largest fmailies of fish, but most are very small, ranging from 3/8 inches long to 12 inches long, but only a very few giant gobies are over 4 inches. Because of their size few gobies are food fish, but quite a few are popular aquarium fish.

Keo Fish / Ca Keo - [Ca Keo (Viet); Pseudapocryptes elongatus alt P. lanceolatus]

This air breathing vegetarian fish, found from India to Tahiti and north to China, lives only in brackish waters, particularly in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. It can grow to nearly 8 inches but the photo specimen was 7-1/2 inches and weighed 0.77 ounces. It was harvested wild in Vietnam where this fish is quite popular for a hot-pot soup named after it.   Details and Cooking.

Sand Goby - [Tank Goby (Fishbase), Flathead Goby; Ca bong cat, Ca bong da (Viet); Glossogobius giuris]

This fish is found in tropical fresh and brackish waters from the east coast of Africa to the South Pacific islands. Caught wild and farmed. It is absolutely gigantic - for a goby - most of which are between 1 and 4 inches long. This one gets as large as 19 inches in brackish water, less in fresh, but is generally marketed at about 9 inches and 3.2 oz.   Details and Cooking.

Spotted Goby - [??]

The fish shown here, wild caught in Vietnam, are not any of the "spotted gobies" listed on Fishbase (note the squared off tail and exceeding long fin rays) but I'm not going to try to identify it further. Fishbase lists about a thousand gobies and has photos of only half of them, so some goby expert will have to ID this one. These fish measured about 5-3/4 inches long and weighed about 1 ounce each.   Details and Cooking.

Grass Goby - [Gò (Venice); Zosterisessor ophiocephalus formerly Gobius venetiarum]

This fish is native to the cost and lagoons all around the Mediterranean and grows to just under 10 inches. It is not much eaten in the region except in Venice, Italy where it is important for some local dishes. It is fished commercially in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.