Gobius kolombatovici Kovačić & Miller, 2000

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 : 59

Gobius kolombatovici Kovačić & Miller, 2000 ( Fig. 18 )—Kolombatović’s goby

Gobius kolombatovici Kovačić & Miller, 2000: 232 , type locality: Adriatic Sea , Croatia, Kamenjak, the Island of Krk.

Size. Known adult size about 11 cm total length.

Morphology. D VI + I,13–14; A I,13; P 17–19. Medium-sized goby, snout moderately short but longer than the eye diameter, with a moderately steep profile. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin may be slightly higher, with more or less rounded distal edge and no elongate spines. Caudal fin rounded. Scales present on body and on predorsal area, usually visible on photographs at least on body ( Kovačić & Miller 2000).

Live coloration. Head and body on back pale to fawn, pearly white ventrally, with irregular orange blotches arranged in longitudinal series ( Fig. 18 ). Snout with a conspicuous, V-shaped orange line. A broad horizontal stripe across eye and a continuous and well-marked orange oculoscapular line from behind eye to above pectoral-fin base. First dorsal fin with a distinct oval blackish blotch between the third and fourth (or fifth) interspinous membranes ( Fig. 18 ) ( Kovačić & Miller 2000; Francour & Mangialajo 2007; Renoult et al. 2022).

Similar species. Thorogobius macrolepis .

Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, known from 12–90 m depth. Typically found on patches of soft bottoms in steep rocky areas, often on coarse shell sand at the bottom of rocky or coralligenous walls, close to shelter ( Kovačić & Miller 2000; Francour & Mangialajo 2007).

Geographic distribution. Scattered records in the Mediterranean Sea: western Mediterranean (e.g., Columbretes and Balearic Islands in Spain: Kersting & Ballesteros 2010); Ligurian ( Francour & Mangialajo 2007), Adriatic ( Kovačić & Miller 2000), Ionian ( Tiralongo & Pagano 2015) and Aegean seas (Bilecenoğlu 2013), and Lebanon ( Bitar & Badreddine 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 18. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Gobius kolombatovici. Photo by S. Le Bris, Marseille, Southern France.