spence, Gobius Smith [J. L. B.] 1947:809 [Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 11) v. 13 (no. 108) (art. 77); ref. 4073] Delagoa Bay, Mozambique, western Indian Ocean. Syntypes: SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 190 (4). •Valid as Acentrogobius spence (Smith 1947) -- (Goren 1979:22 [ref. 1852]). •Valid as Acentrogobius spence = Istigobius decoratus Herre 1927 -- (Dor 1984:238 and footnote [ref. 29757]). •Valid as Istigobius spence (Smith 1947) -- (Murdy & Hoese 1985:27 [ref. 5237], Hoese 1986:794 [ref. 5670], Maugé 1986:375 [ref. 6218], Myers 1999:257 [ref. 23965], Larson in Randall & Lim 2000:638 [ref. 25122], Larson & Murdy 2001:3598 [ref. 26293], Allen & Adrim 2003:59 [ref. 26830], Hoese & Larson 2006:1662 [ref. 29097], Allen & Erdmann 2012:981 [ref. 31980], Larson et al. 2013:201 [ref. 32988], Fricke et al. 2014:168 [ref. 33932], Fricke et al. 2018:334 [ref. 35805], Hoese & Erdmann 2018:71 [ref. 35978], Shibukawa in Kimura et al. 2018:261 [ref. 36460], Parenti 2021:189 [ref. 38603], Larson 2022:112 [ref. 39971], Allen & Erdmann 2024:1354 [ref. 40796]). Current status: Valid as Istigobius spence (Smith 1947). Gobiidae: Gobiinae. Distribution: Indo-West Pacific: KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), East Africa, Seychelles and Madagascar east to Micronesia, north to northern Vietnam and Philippines, south to Queensland (Australia) and New Caledonia. Habitat: brackish, marine.