# Butidae
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{{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](/source/Early_Eocene) to present}}
| image = Crazy fish, Butis butis (Hamilton, 1822) by M. L. Nievera (colored).png
| image_caption = ''[Butis butis](/source/Butis_butis)''
| image2 = Eleotris ophiocephalus Ford 67.jpg
| image2_caption = ''Ophiocara porocephala''
| taxon = Butidae
| authority = [Bleeker](/source/Pieter_Bleeker), 1874[{{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 }}]
}}
'''Butidae''' is a [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)) of sleeper gobies in the [order](/source/Order_(biology)) [Gobiiformes](/source/Gobiiformes). The family was formerly classified as a [subfamily](/source/subfamily) of the [Eleotridae](/source/Eleotridae) but the 5th Edition of ''[Fishes of the World](/source/Fishes_of_the_World)'' classifies it as a family in its own right.[{{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 }}] Molecular [phylogenetic](/source/Phylogeny) analyses have demonstrated that the Butidae are a [sister clade](/source/sister_clade) to the [clade](/source/clade) containing the families [Gobiidae](/source/Gobiidae) and [Gobionellidae](/source/Gobionellinae) and that the Eleotridae is a sister to both of these clades. This means that the Eloetridae as formerly classified was [paraphyletic](/source/paraphyly) and that its subfamilies should be raised to the status of families.[
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 [ecosystem](/source/ecosystem)s.][{{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 }}] They are mostly quite small species but the [marbled goby](/source/Oxyeleotris_marmorata) (''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.[Riehl, R. & Baensch, H.A. (1996): ''Aquarium Atlas'' (Volume 1). Voyageur Press. p. 992. {{ISBN|978-3-88244-050-8}}][{{FishBase |genus= Oxyeleotris|species= marmorata| month = September | year = 2017}}]
The earliest known member of the Butidae is the [stem group](/source/stem_group)-butid †''[Carlomonnius](/source/Carlomonnius)'' Bannikov & Carnevale, 2016 from the [Early Eocene](/source/Ypresian)-aged [Monte Bolca](/source/Monte_Bolca) site of Italy. This genus is also the earliest [gobioid](/source/Gobioidei) known from skeletal remains. It was previously considered a gobioid of uncertain affinities[{{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}}], 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](/source/Coral_goby) of the [Gobiidae](/source/Gobiidae). This is unlike extant butids, which primarily inhabit freshwater and brackish habitats, with none inhabiting reef ecosystems.[{{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 }}]
==Genera==
The following genera are classified within the family Butidae:[{{Cof family |family=Butidae |accessdate=27 January 2026}}]
{{div col |colwidth=18em}}
* ''[Bostrychus](/source/Bostrychus)'' [Lacépède](/source/Bernard_Germain_de_Lac%C3%A9p%C3%A8de), 1801
* ''[Butis](/source/Butis)'' Bleeker, 1856
* ''[Formosaneleotris](/source/Formosaneleotris)'' Chen, 2024
* ''[Incara](/source/Incara)'' Visweswara Rao, 1971
* ''[Kribia](/source/Kribia)'' [Herre](/source/Albert_William_Herre), 1946
* ''[Odonteleotris](/source/Odonteleotris)'' [Gill](/source/Theodore_Gill), 1863
* ''[Ophiocara](/source/Ophiocara)'' Gill, 1863
* ''[Oxyeleotris](/source/Oxyeleotris)'' Bleeker, 1874
* ''[Paloa](/source/Paloa)'' Herre, 1927
* ''[Parviparma](/source/Parviparma)'' Herre, 1927
* ''[Pogoneleotris](/source/Pogoneleotris)'' Bleeker, 1875
* ''[Prionobutis](/source/Prionobutis)'' Bleeker, 1874
{{div col end}}The following fossil genera are also known:
* †''[Carlomonnius](/source/Carlomonnius)'' Bannikov & Carnevale, 2016 ([Early Eocene](/source/Ypresian) of Italy)[{{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 }}]