Eleotris is a genus of sleeper gobies in the family Eleotridae, a group of elongated, bottom-hugging ambush predators found in coastal fresh and brackish water across much of the tropical and subtropical world. The atlas's countries for the genus, Indonesia, the Philippines, Colombia, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Mexico, Panama, and Taiwan, illustrate just how widely the genus is distributed, spanning the Indo-Pacific, the Americas, and Indian Ocean islands. Many Eleotris species are amphidromous: larvae are swept out to sea after hatching and later return to freshwater streams as juveniles, a life-history pattern shared with several other tropical island gobies and sleepers. The atlas covers 8 species, with a broad size range from about 2–13 in.
Sleeper gobies like Eleotris are heavy-bodied, large-mouthed, sit-and-wait predators, usually mottled brown or olive for camouflage against a stream or estuary bottom, capable of taking substantial prey relative to their own size. The genus has only a minor presence in the aquarium hobby, mostly among brackish-water and biotope specialists rather than general fishkeepers, since sleepers are aggressive predators that quickly outgrow smaller setups. Conservation status leans reassuring for now, with six of the eight species rated Least Concern, one Data Deficient, and one not yet evaluated; none currently carry a CARES designation.