Butidae

{{Short description|Family of ray-finned fishes}} {{for|other gobies with this family's common name|sleeper goby (disambiguation)}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|50|0|Early Eocene to present}} | image = Crazy fish, Butis butis (Hamilton, 1822) by M. L. Nievera (colored).png | image_caption = ''Butis butis'' | image2 = Eleotris ophiocephalus Ford 67.jpg | image2_caption = ''Ophiocara porocephala'' | taxon = Butidae | authority = Bleeker, 1874<ref name = Zootaxa>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue =2 | pages = 001–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref> }}

'''Butidae''' is a family of sleeper gobies in the order Gobiiformes. The family was formerly classified as a subfamily of the Eleotridae but the 5th Edition of ''Fishes of the World'' classifies it as a family in its own right.<ref name = Nelson5>{{cite web | url = https://81a86d48-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/fotw5th/home/FotW5Classification.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7crnPmFXqnJpmRlpzLSdqx8GmsCmFXNBj8fAYuPuhFBvCfHo4TahH7eM_yruTzHI27nZRRWWJPRR7U9HopPBRlQK8iW_73EG6FVke6aUjl20fgZXiChDnl-xqMl4L2I-wHwV7D4qcPAQI1vSV6YfFYAm5qb7t5w0rJ_ierkZ91ezIvpQ_5f0kSbFiUx-YYGXP1US1GbwSf-G7sRx4XEikm73VqVA0idVnlkaFjzI53bkuIQY0OQ%3D&attredirects=0 | title = Classification of fishes from Fishes of the World 5th Edition | author1 = Nelson, JS | author2 = Grande, TC | author3 = Wilson, MVH | name-list-style = amp | year = 2016 | access-date = 10 May 2018 | archive-date = 20 January 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220120135002/https://81a86d48-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/fotw5th/home/FotW5Classification.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7crIfB6q0amFyPzpVw0HNKYpziyjiVSv52zf5VgSIrevDuVCDf0Ot9atbJNEMBm8Ufsi0yeE3VQhEvhNf1FSa2N967AptcN3CZJ907ptO-uYBVkWdPPRwo2mSe6I9gw1z8evk-bCqUF0pT_FcIAXBJI2aDSmzPCbmlu1aUOlm5dqf-2bG00OGc5PMxC7sZql1Bfz-_3pUYASCWoAkJ48dYFaVVrYDBYgi8NliIZfsthrsX-NmVQ=&attredirects=1 }}</ref> Molecular phylogenetic analyses have demonstrated that the Butidae are a sister clade to the clade containing the families Gobiidae and Gobionellidae and that the Eleotridae is a sister to both of these clades. This means that the Eloetridae as formerly classified was paraphyletic and that its subfamilies should be raised to the status of families.<ref name = Thacker/>

The species in the Butidae are largely restricted to tropical and sub-tropical waters of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Oceania. They are especially diverse in New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand where they can be important components of brackish and freshwater ecosystems.<ref name = Thacker>{{cite book | author = Christine Thacker | url = https://nhm.org/site/sites/default/files/ichthyology/pdf/ThackerButidaeEleotridae2011.pdf | chapter = Chapter 1.5 Systematics of Butidae and Eleotridae | publisher = CRC Press | year = 2011 | title = The Biology of Gobies | editor1 = Robert Patzner | editor2 = James L. Van Tassell | editor3 = Marcelo Kovacic | editor4 = B. G. Kapoor | isbn = 978-1-57808-436-4 | access-date = 2018-07-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160728181051/http://www.nhm.org/site/sites/default/files/ichthyology/pdf/ThackerButidaeEleotridae2011.pdf | archive-date = 2016-07-28 }}</ref> They are mostly quite small species but the marbled goby (''Oxyeleotris marmorata'') is a freshwater species of Buitdae from Southeast Asia that can grow to {{convert|65|cm|in|abbr=on|1}} long and is an important food fish.<ref name=Riehl1996>Riehl, R. & Baensch, H.A. (1996): ''Aquarium Atlas'' (Volume 1). Voyageur Press. p. 992. {{ISBN|978-3-88244-050-8}}</ref><ref name=FishBase>{{FishBase |genus= Oxyeleotris|species= marmorata| month = September | year = 2017}}</ref>

The earliest known member of the Butidae is the stem group-butid †''Carlomonnius'' Bannikov & Carnevale, 2016 from the Early Eocene-aged Monte Bolca site of Italy. This genus is also the earliest gobioid known from skeletal remains. It was previously considered a gobioid of uncertain affinities<ref name="CQ">{{Cite journal |last1=Bannikov |first1=A.F. |last2=Carnevale |first2=G. |date=2016-03-17 |title=†Carlomonnius quasigobius gen. et sp. nov.: the first gobioid fish from the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy |url=http://www.geology.cz/bulletin/contents/art1577 |journal=Bulletin of Geosciences |pages=13–22 |doi=10.3140/bull.geosci.1577 |hdl=2318/1632180 |issn=1802-8225 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>, but a 2025 study analyzing more specimens found strong evidence for it being closely related to the Butidae. ''Carlomonnius'' had a lifestyle unlike any extant butids, being a very small marine genus that inhabited reef environments, suggesting a similar lifestyle to coral gobies of the Gobiidae. This is unlike extant butids, which primarily inhabit freshwater and brackish habitats, with none inhabiting reef ecosystems.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Reichenbacher |first1=Bettina |last2=Bannikov |first2=Alexander F. |last3=Erpenbeck |first3=Dirk |date=2025-12-31 |title=Earliest gobioid fishes were coral-reef associated dwarfs: New evidence from the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=23 |issue=1 |article-number=2546601 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2025.2546601 |issn=1477-2019|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Genera== The following genera are classified within the family Butidae:<ref name = Cof>{{Cof family |family=Butidae |accessdate=27 January 2026}}</ref> {{div col |colwidth=18em}} * ''Bostrychus'' Lacépède, 1801 * ''Butis'' Bleeker, 1856 * ''Formosaneleotris'' Chen, 2024 * ''Incara'' Visweswara Rao, 1971 * ''Kribia'' Herre, 1946 * ''Odonteleotris'' Gill, 1863 * ''Ophiocara'' Gill, 1863 * ''Oxyeleotris'' Bleeker, 1874 * ''Paloa'' Herre, 1927 * ''Parviparma'' Herre, 1927 * ''Pogoneleotris'' Bleeker, 1875 * ''Prionobutis'' Bleeker, 1874 {{div col end}}The following fossil genera are also known:

* †''Carlomonnius'' Bannikov & Carnevale, 2016 (Early Eocene of Italy)<ref name=":0" /> * †''Lepidocottus'' Sauvage, 1875 (Early Oligocene to Early Miocene of Italy, France, Germany, and central Europe)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gierl |first1=Christoph |last2=Reichenbacher |first2=Bettina |last3=Gaudant |first3=Jean |last4=Erpenbeck |first4=Dirk |last5=Pharisat |first5=André |date=2013-05-15 |title=An Extraordinary Gobioid Fish Fossil from Southern France |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=8 |issue=5 |article-number=e64117 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0064117 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3655028 |pmid=23691158 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...864117G }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Butidae Category:Percomorpha families

{{Gobiiformes-stub}} Category:Extant Ypresian first appearances Category:Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker