Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Platygillellus rubellulus (Kendall & Radcliffe, 1912)

Mirador de estrellas aletita, Shortfin sand stargazer

Size: Grow to lengths of 62 mm. Males mature at 41 mm, and females mature at 44 mm.

Habitat: Found in a variety of sandy habitats, including patches of volcanic and coral sand among rocks, in rocky crevices, and on beaches.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Chordata

Class
Teleostei

Order
Blenniiformes

Family
Dactyloscopidae

Genus
Platygillellus

Species
rubellulus

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Gillellus rubellulus Kendall & Radcliffe, 1912, Gillelus rubellulus Kendall & Radcliffe, 1912 (misspelling) fide Horton et al. ( 2021). Holotype: Gillelus [Gillellus] rubellulus Kendall and Radcliffe, 1912:148. USNM 65510, 25 /i6 in [= 58.7 mm] TL, Chatham Island [Galapagos Islands], Albatross, 9 Jan 1905 [ace. no. 51565] (Springer & Orrell, 1996).

Origin: Endemic

Status

Least concern

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: Endemic to the Galapagos

References

  • Appeltans, W. Bouchet, P., Boxshall, G.A., Fauchald, K., Gordon, D.P., Hoeksema, B.W., Poore, G.C.B., van Soest, R.W.M., Stöhr, S., Walter, T.C., Costello, M.J. (eds.) (2010) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org.
  • Grove, J.S. Lavenberg, R.J. (1997) The Fishes of the Galapagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford California. 862 pp.
  • Grove, J.S. Long, D.J., Robertson, D.R. & Victor, B.C. (2022) List of Fishes of the Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 39, 14–22.
  • Horton, T. Horton, T., Kroh, A., Ahyong, S., Bailly, N., Boyko, C. B., Brandão, S. N., Gofas, S., Hooper, J. N. A., Hernandez, F., Holovachov, O., Mees, J., Molodtsova, T. N., Paulay, G., Decock, W., Dekeyzer, S., Poffyn, G., Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Adlard, R., ... Zhao, Z. (2021) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
  • IUCN (2023) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2023-1. Https://www.iucnredlist.org
  • McCosker, J.E. Rosenblatt, R.H. (2010) The fishes of the Galápagos Archipelago: an update. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., Ser. 4, vol. 61, Suppl. II, no. 11: 167-195.
  • Springer, V. G. Orrell, T. M. (1996) Catalog of type specimens of recent fishes in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution 7:Chaenopsidae, Clinidae, Dactyloscopidae, Labrisomidae, and Tripterygiidae. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.

You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.

This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Platygillellus rubellulus", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=13211. Accessed 9 June 2026.