banana, Gobius Valenciennes [A.] in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1837:103 [Histoire naturelle des poissons v. 12; ref. 1006] Santo Domingo. Lectotype: MNHN A-1265. Paralectotypes: MNHN A-1359 (1). Type catalog: Bauchot et al. 1991:26 [ref. 19958] as holotype and paratype. Lectotype designated by Watson 1996:3 [ref. 22211]. •Synonym of Awaous tajasica (Lichtenstein 1822) -- (Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999:438 [ref. 24550]). •Valid as Awaous banana (Valenciennes 1837) -- (Watson 1996:3 [ref. 22211], Greenfield & Thomerson 1997:237 [ref. 22947], Bussing 1998:396 [ref. 24179], Musick 2000:18 [ref. 24959], Lim et al. 2002:98 [ref. 28310], Murdy & Hoese 2003:1795 [ref. 27111], Kullander in Reis et al. 2003:657 [ref. 27061], Ross & Rhode 2004:302 [ref. 27789], Nelson et al. 2004:169 [ref. 27807], McEachran & Fechhelm 2005:668 [ref. 28815], Lasso-Alcalá & Lasso 2008:126 [ref. 30588], Scharpf 2009:13 [ref. 30400], Matamoros et al. 2009:24 [ref. 31241], Page & Burr 2011:617 [ref. 31215], Van Tassell 2011:142 [ref. 31732], McMahan et al. 2013:453 [ref. 32422], Lindstrom et al. 2012:296 [ref. 32536], Angulo et al. 2013:1007 [ref. 33194], Page et al. 2013:174 [ref. 32708], Phillip et al. 2013:24 [ref. 32896], Barriga Salazar 2014:119 [ref. 35745], Smith-Vaniz & Jelks 2014:75 [ref. 33341], Schmidt & McMullin 2015:4 [ref. 36603], Walsh & Chakrabarty 2016:515 [ref. 34497], Robins et al. 2018:408 [ref. 35886], López-Segovia et al. 2020:110 [ref. 38151], Rodríguez-Barrera et al. 2020:45 [ref. 37800], Al-Jufaili et al. 2021:[3] [ref. 38743], McMahan et al. 2021:[5] [ref. 38383], Parenti 2021:301 [ref. 38603], Angulo et al. 2023:35 [ref. 40676], Barrientos et al. 2023:273 [ref. 41235], Page et al. 2023:120 [ref. 40505]). Current status: Valid as Awaous banana (Valenciennes 1837). Oxudercidae: Gobionellinae. Distribution: Western Atlantic: North Carolina (U.S.A) south to Venezuela, including southern Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Replaced in eastern Pacific by Awaous transandeanus (Günther 1861). Habitat: freshwater, brackish, marine.