The sandburrowers or simply burrowers are a family, Creediidae, of fishes in the order Perciformes

Perciformes

The Perciformes, also called the Percomorphi or Acanthopteri, is one of the largest orders of vertebrates, containing about 40% of all bony fish. Perciformes means perch-like. They belong to the class of ray-finned fish and comprise over 7,000 species found in almost all aquatic environments...

.

They are native to coastal waters the Indian

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 and Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

s. They are very small fishes: with the exception of the larger Donaldson's sandburrower, Limnichthys donaldsoni, most species reach only 3 to 7 cm in length. They live in shallow waters close to the shore, burrowing into sandy areas swept by currents or by surf.

Species

There are seventeen species in seven genera:

• Genus Apodocreedia de Beaufort, 1948
  • Longfin burrower, Apodocreedia vanderhorsti de Beaufort, 1948.
• Genus Chalixodytes Schultz, 1943
  • Sand dart, Chalixodytes chameleontoculis Smith, 1957.
  • Saddled sandburrower, Chalixodytes tauensis Schultz, 1943.
• Genus Creedia Ogilby
  William Ogilby
  William Ogilby was an Irish barrister and naturalist.Ogilby was honorary secretary of the Zoological Society of London from 1839 to 1846....
  
  , 1898
  • Creedia alleni Nelson, 1983.
  • Creedia bilineatus Shimada & Yoshino, 1987.
  • Slender sand-diver, Creedia haswelli (Ramsay, 1881).
  • Half-scaled sand-diver, Creedia partimsquamigera Nelson, 1983.
• Genus Crystallodytes Fowler, 1923
  • South Pacific Sandburrower, Crystallodytes cookei Fowler, 1923.
  • Crystallodytes pauciradiatus Nelson & Randall, 1985.
• Genus Limnichthys Waite, 1904
  • Donaldson's sandburrower, Limnichthys donaldsoni Schultz, 1960.
  • Barred sand burrower, Limnichthys fasciatus Waite, 1904.
  • Sand submarine, Limnichthys nitidus Smith, 1958.
  • Limnichthys orientalis Yoshino, Kon & Okabe, 1999.
  • Tommyfish, Limnichthys polyactis Nelson, 1978.
  • Limnichthys rendahli
    Limnichthys rendahli
    Limnichthys rendahli is a sandburrower of the family Creediidae, found only around New Zealand to depths of about 150 m, on sandy or gravelly bottoms. Its length is between 3 and 8 cm.-References:...
    
    Parrott, 1958.
• Genus Schizochirus Waite, 1904
  • Schizochirus insolens Waite, 1904.
• Genus Tewara Griffin, 1933
  • New Zealand sand diver
    New Zealand sand diver
    The New Zealand sand diver, Tewara cranwellae, is a sandburrower, the only species in the genus Tewara, found all around New Zealand to depths of about 5 m, on sandy or gravelly bottoms...
    
    , Tewara cranwellae Griffin, 1933.