Slim, pale shrimpgoby with orange dashes, hovering further from its burrow than most.
A slender shrimpgoby to about 11 cm, much longer in the body than the Amblyeleotris and Cryptocentrus species that share the same sand. The ground colour is whitish to pale grey, marked along the flank with rows of orange to yellow dashes and small spots, with pale blue flecks on the cheek and blue and orange lines in the dorsal and tail fins. Genus is usually the easier call than species: Vanderhorstia are elongate and fine-snouted with a delicate, almost transparent look, where Cryptocentrus are heavy-headed and blunt. Several Vanderhorstia occur alongside each other and separating them reliably needs the fin markings, so a record kept at genus level is often the honest one.
Partnered with an alpheid snapping shrimp in the usual arrangement — the shrimp digs and maintains the tunnel, the goby stands watch at the mouth — but this species tends to hover a body length or two clear of the entrance rather than resting on it, which is a reasonable field clue on its own. Feeds on small crustaceans taken from the water just above the bottom.
Recorded from about 5 to 30 m, favouring fine sand and silt on gentle slopes rather than coarse rubble. Because it holds off the burrow it also drops further and faster than the resting species, and it will not return while a diver is settling into position nearby.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
