A new marine shrimp goby has been described from the Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
The tiny goby, which lives in a burrow alongside a shrimp in a symbiotic relationship, was found in water 45m deep over a sand-mud bottom in Iriomote-Jima Island, part of the Ryukyu Islands.
Unusually, the description is based upon just a single specimen. It is normal in systematics to use a series type specimens to produce a new taxonomic description and studies based upon a single individual can be problematic at a later date.
The new species was caught at a size of 41mm, but it's not known whether this is the adult size for this species, since only one specimen has been caught.
For more details on the identification of the new species from other Vanderhorstia species, see the full paper: Shibukawa, K. and T. Suzuki. (2004) - Vanderhorstia papilio, a new shrimp-associated goby from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (Perciformes: Gobiidae: Gobiinae), with comments on the limits of the genus.