Gammogobius steinitzi Bath, 1971

Kovačić, Marcelo, Renoult, Julien P., Pillon, Roberto, Svensen, Rudolf, Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Engin, Semih & Louisy, Patrick, 2022, Identification of Mediterranean marine gobies (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) of the continental shelf from photographs of in situ individuals, Zootaxa 5144 (1), pp. 1-103 : 52

Gammogobius steinitzi Bath, 1971 ( Fig. 22 )—Steinitz’s Goby

Gammogobius steinitzi Bath, 1971: 202 , type locality: Mediterranean Sea , France, off Marseilles.

Size. Maximum size about 5.4 cm total length ( Kovtun & Manilo 2013).

Morphology. D VI + I,8–9; A I,7–9; P 15–17 (summarized in Kovtun & Manilo 2013). Small goby with stocky body, large depressed head and a gently sloping snout. Eyes large, with a narrow interorbital space ( Fig. 22 ). Caudal peduncle deep, almost as deep as the body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded shape and no elongated spines, all but the sixth spines being subequal in length. Caudal fin rounded. Scales visible on body from reticulate pigmentation pattern along scale edges.

Live coloration. Body with barred coloration pattern of 6–7 narrow pale bars on a mostly brownish background ( Fig. 22 ). Head brownish with 3 pale, continuous bars extending downwards from eye over cheek and preopercle to ventral side ( Fig. 20b ). Fins mostly colorless; some black spots at the base of both dorsal fins, extending as dots along rays or spine s ( Fig. 22 ).

Similar species. Corcyrogobius liechtensteini , Didogobius splechtnai .

Habitat. Infralittoral species, known from 5–25 m in marine caves, more common in deeper water. Mostly inhabits the crevices and holes of cave walls and ceilings (summarized by Patzner 2021).

Geographic distribution. Mediterranean and Black Sea. Mediterranean records from the northwestern Mediterranean ( Bath 1971), Adriatic Sea ( Kovačić 1999), Crete (Kovačić et al. 2011), and Turkey, Aegean Sea ( Engin et al. 2018a; Ragkousis et al. 2021). In the Black Sea, it was recorded in Crimea ( Kovtun & Manilo 2013).

Figures

FIGURE 20. Three pale, uninterrupted bars (marked with numbers) extending downwards from eye radiating downwards from eye to ventral side: A) C. liechtensteini, B) G. steinitzi. Photos by M. Kovačić (fishes photographed in a tank).

FIGURE 22. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Gammogobius steinitzi Bath, 1971. Photo by S. Guerrieri, Tuscany, Italy.