Rediscovery of Mugilogobius chulae (Smith, 1932) after 90 years and new goby records from northern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Northern Sri Lanka, particularly the Jaffna Peninsula and adjacent island archipelago, has historically been underexplored due to decades of civil conflict, leaving significant gaps in knowledge of the regional fauna, including its freshwater and estuarine fishes. During a recent exploration of inland habitats in northern Sri Lanka, particularly on Karaitivu Island, we recorded two gobiid species from a tidal pool that could not be identified in the field. Detailed morphological examination of the collected specimens confirmed their identities. Here, we report the rediscovery of the Yellow-stripe Goby, Mugilogobius chulae (Smith, 1932), nearly 90 years after its sole historical record in Sri Lanka, following decades of absence and uncertainty in the literature. We also report the first verified northernmost record of the Black-spotted Snubnose Goby, Pseudogobius melanosticta (Day, 1876), in Sri Lanka, a species for which no recent verified records were available from the island. Our findings extend the known distributions of both species, contribute to the national ichthyofaunal inventory, and underscore the potential for further discoveries in the underexplored inland habitats of northern Sri Lanka.