Sujihaze (スジハゼ, Acentrogobius virgatulus) fighting. First record in this species.

Thank you to everyone who helped and encouraged me to upload.
I hope to upload more videos soon. the backlog of interesting stuff is immense, so i really don't have an excuse except grad school.
Hope you enjoy this one.
Abstract of paper:
Acentrogobius virgatulus (Jordan & Snyder, 1901) is a small coastal species of goby found along the Western Pacific. It is commonly found in Maizuru bay along the muddy sediment between the intertidal zone and depths of 10 m. In June and July of 2022, two independent agonistic interactions between male A. virgatulus were observed and recorded during its spawning season. One interaction, lasting over 4 minutes, included certain aggressive behaviors such as jaw locking, mouth gaping, fin extensions, rapid color changes, and fast strikes to the head and body. Another interaction exhibited similar mouth gaping, fin extension, and rapid color changes but did not lead to further escalation. These behaviors coincide with those found in similar species and provides in situ evidence of these uncommon interactions. This is the first record of agonistic behavior by an Acentrogobius species. Accumulating findings such as these can contextualize intraspecific interactions, reveal differences across multiple species, and guide future experiments.
Songs: fujitsu: motions, hills and horizons, and coconut tree
Full video: • Sujihaze fighting beha...
Hunter Harter Godfrey, Yumi Henmi. (2023) "Observations of Agonistic Behavior between Two Male Gobies Acentrogobius virgatulus (Jordan & Snyder, 1901), in Maizuru Bay, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan", Journal of Applied Ichthyology, vol. 2023, 2023.
doi.org/10.1155/2023/8868453

[@efeek77]

What an incredible shot on the fish species. Their colorations are well blended in their environment.

[@johncgodfrey]

Nice work Hunter❤

[@kleszczoros4885]

Amazing
Truely fascinating that you managed to record this

[@blueoceanproductions]

Great observations, Hunter!

[@bradsillasen1972]

Fun stuff. Apparently you are progressing well on your career trajectory. I assume the more patterned individual circling the combatants is a prospective female?

[@dexterfoley2701]

🙂 P r o m o S M