Periophthalmus barbarus (Linnaeus, 1766)

Edwards, A. J., Gill, A. C. & Abohweyere, P. O., 2003, A revision of F. R. Irvine’s Ghanaian marine fishes in the collections of The Natural History Museum, London, Journal of Natural History 37 (18), pp. 2213-2267 : 2253

Periophthalmus barbarus (Linnaeus, 1766)

Irvine name. Periophthalmus koelreuteri (Pallas) . A junior synonym.

Reference material. Botiano Lagoon, near Accra, March 1930 (Irvine 72)— BMNH 1930.8.26.72–74 (three: 133.0– 136.2 mm SL); no locality, 1931 (Plumptre)?— BMNH 1934.10 .12.19 (one: 98.2 mm SL) .

Distribution. Coasts, lagoons and estuaries of tropical West Africa from Senegal to Angola including the Gulf of Guinea islands (Miller in Quéro et al., 1990: 958–959).

A recent study by Murdy (1989) indicates that Gobius koelreuteri Pallas, 1770 , Periophthalmus papilio Bloch and Schneider, 1801 , P. gabonicus Duméril, 1861 (type locality: Gabon), and P. erythronemus Guichenot in Duméril, 1861 (type locality: Senegal) are all junior synonyms of P. barbarus . This species is the only Periophthalmus in West Africa and is endemic to the eastern tropical Atlantic. Murdy (1989) designated a neotype for P. barbarus from Liberia and also noted that the purported type locality of ‘ Tranquebar, India’ for P. papilio must be presumed an error.