How many valid Pleurosicya (Teleostei: Gobiidae) species are known from the Red Sea? Author Goren, Menachem 0000-0003-1597-269X School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 69778. https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 1597 - 269 X & The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 69778. https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 8034 - 4505 Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Senckenberganlage 25, D- 60325, Frankfurt a. M., Germany. ic 187196 @ yandex. ru; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8679 - 9735 Author Bogorodsky, Sergey V. 0000-0002-8679-9735 Station of Naturalists, Tulenina str. 13 - 29, Omsk, Russia ic187196@yandex.ru Author B-S, Shevy 0000-0001-8034-4505 The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 69778. https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 8034 - 4505 Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Senckenberganlage 25, D- 60325, Frankfurt a. M., Germany. ic 187196 @ yandex. ru; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8679 - 9735 text Zootaxa 2023 2023-03-27 5258 1 113 129 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5258.1.5 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.1.5 1175-5326 7773375 15415E7B-A37D-4C77-A342-8CA7FA6240A2 Pleurosicya plicata Larson, 1990 Folded Ghostgoby Figure 8 Pleurosicya plicata Larson, 1990: 41 (type locality: Salomon Atoll, Chagos Archipelago; holotype : ROM 58031)— Bogorodsky et al. 2010: 123 (southern Egypt ); Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 48 (listed); Golani & Fricke 2018: 159 (listed). Distinctive characters (following Bogorodsky et al. 2010 ). Pectoral-fin rays 15–18 (usually 16); midline of nape and side of nape naked, scales on side of body not extending forward to pectoral-fin base; gill opening extending forward to below preopercular margin; tip of tongue trilobed; pelvic fins with spine lobes usually long, thin, and folded inward; translucent, with a series of alternating orange-brown and bluish dashes along vertebral column, three elongate orange-brown spots internally on upper part of abdomen, and a W-shaped reddish mark on nape, with all orange-brown and reddish markings containing dark brown dots; a short oblique brownish orange band before pectoral-fin base ( Bogorodsky et al. 2010 ). Distribution and Habitat. Ranges from the Red Sea, Mauritius and Chagos Archipelago, east to Papua New Guinea and Caroline Islands ( Larson 1990 ; Bogorodsky et al. 2010 ). Lives on hard corals of the genera Favia and Goniastrea near soft corals of the family Nephtheidae in sheltered lagoons, at depths of 1–30 m ; quickly retreats to soft corals when alarmed. Remarks. There are no additional records since the single record from a large lagoon at Shams Alam, in the southern Red Sea ( Bogorodsky et al. 2010 ). The specimen from Egypt differs in having a W-shaped mark on the nape. Further studies of the Red Sea population are needed.