Lophogobius, Gill, 1862

Lophogobius View in CoL lineage sensu Agorreta et al., 2013

Otoliths of the Lophogobius lineage are relatively inconspicuous and show a typical goby otolith pattern with a sole-shaped sulcus, a usually pronounced predorsal angle, and a protruding postdorsal projection. A subcaudal iugum is sometimes present but often indistinct. Tree genera are represented in America: Coryphopterus Gill, 1863 , Lophogobius Gill, 1862 , and Rhinogobiops Hubbs, 1926 . Te coverage of otoliths from extant species is good and allows a reliable identification of fossil otoliths in most cases. Otoliths are known from 10 of the 14 extant Coryphopterus species: Coryphopterus dicrus Böhlke & Robins, 1960 ( Fig. 39a View Fig ), C. curasub Baldwin & Robertson, 2015 ( Fig. 39b View Fig ), C. glaucofraenum Gill, 1863

( Fig. 39c–d View Fig ), C. thrix Böhlke & Robins, 1960 ( Fig. 39e View Fig ), C. urospilus Ginsburg, 1938 (the only East Pacific species in the genus) ( Fig. 39f View Fig ), C. venezuelae Cervigón, 1966

( Fig. 39g –h View Fig ), C. eidolon Böhlke & Robins, 1960 ( Fig. 39i View Fig ), C. tortugae ( Jordan, 1904) ( Fig. 39j View Fig ), C. lipernes Böhlke & Robins, 1962 ( Fig. 40a View Fig ), and C. personatus ( Jordan & Tompson, 1905) ( Fig. 40c–d View Fig ). Lophogobius contains two species, L. cristulatus Ginsburg, 1939 , in the East Pacific and L. cyprinoides (Pallas, 1770) ( Fig. 40i–n View Fig ) in the West Atlantic. Rhinogobiops is monospecific with R. nicholsi (Bean, 1882) ( Fig. 40o–p View Fig ) in the East Pacific. Rhinogobiops nicholsii is a large-growing species (up to 150 mm TL according to Froese & Pauly, 2023), and the two otoliths figured from a large adult specimen (OL = 2.75 mm; Fig. 40o View Fig ) and a small juvenile specimen (OL = 1.15 mm; Fig. 40p View Fig ) show a significant degree of allometric growth. Te still relatively large size of the otolith from the juvenile specimen exemplifies the problem that can arise when identifying small goby otoliths in the range of about 1 mm in length.