Identification of Mediterranean marine gobies (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) of the continental shelf from photographs of in situ individuals
Author
Kovačić, Marcelo
marcelo@prirodoslovni.com
Author
Renoult, Julien P.
jurenoult@gmail.com
Author
Pillon, Roberto
robertopillon@gmail.com
Author
Svensen, Rudolf
rudolf@uwphoto.no
Author
Bogorodsky, Sergey V.
ic187196@yandex.ru
Author
Engin, Semih
engin.semih@gmail.com
Author
Louisy, Patrick
marcelo@prirodoslovni.com
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-06-01
5144
1
1
103
http://zoobank.org/3d15f4cb-1839-41fc-bece-bae2d8f87cb5
journal article
112019
10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1
c1fa17ee-253d-40e6-8b2e-f6391f845414
1175-5326
6601561
3D15F4CB-1839-41FC-BECE-BAE2D8F87CB5
Aphia minuta
(
Risso, 1810
)
(
Fig. 31
)—Transparent Goby
Atherina minuta
Risso, 1810: 340
;
type
locality:
northwestern Mediterranean Sea
,
France
,
Nice
.
Size. Maximum known size
5.8 cm
total length (
La Mesa
et al
. 2005
).
Morphology.
D IV–VI + I,11–13
; A I,11–15; P 15–19. Pedomorphic habitus. Body laterally compressed. Eyes lateral, interorbital wide. Mouth superior, oblique, tip of lower jaw at the horizontal level of pupil. Caudal peduncle slender in females, deeper in males, lower than body height. Dorsal fins distant from each other, with a broad interdorsal space. The first dorsal fin small, roughly of trapezoid or parallelogram shape.
Second dorsal fin high, with moderately short base and ray lengths decreasing posteriorly giving the fin triangular appearance, at least in females.
Pelvic disc complete (Miller 1986;
Patzner 2021
). Caudal fin truncate to slightly emarginate. Scales present, but not usually visible on photographs.
Live coloration.
Body translucent, usually with a row of melanophores along anal-fin base, no triangular black spot at the base of caudal fin and no well-defined black spots laterally on abdomen
(
Fig. 31
).
Similar species.
Crystallogobius linearis
.
Habitat. Pelagic and neritic species, widely distributed in inshore and estuarine waters from the surface to
80–100 m
depth over sand, mud, sea-weed (
Cystoseira
spp.
) and over seagrasses (
Zostera marina
and
Posidonia oceanica
) (
La Mesa
et al
. 2005
).
Geographic distribution. The northeastern Atlantic, from the Strait of
Gibraltar
to the western Baltic and the coasts of
Norway
, as well as in the Mediterranean, including the Adriatic Sea, Black Sea and Azov Sea (
La Mesa
et al
. 2005
;
Boltachev & Karpova 2017
).