General Impact
The introduction of Acanthogobius flavimanus alters fish communities and hastens the decline of native species. In California introductions of A. flavimanus have been associated with extirpations of an endangered species of fish - the tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi)
from certain bodies of water. It also competes with native species for food sources (Meng et al. 1994: Lafferty et al. 1999, Nico and Fuller, 2004).
Location Specific Impacts:San Francisco Bay (Estuary) (United States (USA)) 
Reduction in native biodiversity: Meng et al (1994) suggested that environmental disturbances, coupled with the introduction of this and other foreign species, are altering fish communities and hastening declines of native fishes in California. Although Meng et al (1994) found that the yellowfin goby has an impact on the introduced chameleon goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus, recent investigations have shown this species is actually the shimofuri goby Tridentiger bifasciatus (not the chameleon goby) that occurs in Suisun Bay where the study was conducted (Fleming, personal communication). Hence, it is the shimofuri goby that is affected (Nico and Fuller, 2004). California (United States (USA))
Reduction in native biodiversity: Yellowfin gobies have been reported to have partially replaced Pacific staghorn sculpins Leptocottus armatus (Brittan et al 1970) (Nico and Fuller, 2004).
Threat to endangered species: The tidewater goby (please see Eucyclogobius newberryi ), an endangered species in the United States, occurs in a series of isolated coastal wetlands in California. Habitat degradation and introduced predators have led to extirpations. Tidewater gobies usually occur in habitats where large piscivorous fishes are rare or absent. Several extirpations of tidewater gobies in the San Francisco Bay area followed the invasion of rainwater killifish and A. flavimanus (Lafferty et al 1999).“There also is concern that the yellowfin goby might outcompete and possibly eliminate freshwater populations of the small and endangered tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) (Moyle 1976a, Nico and Fuller, 2004).
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