Thorogobius macrolepis ( Kolombatović, 1891 ), Benthic

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 : 86

Thorogobius macrolepis ( Kolombatović, 1891) ( Fig. 6 )—Large-scaled Goby

Gobius macrolepis Kolombatović, 1891: 4 ; type locality: Adriatic Sea , Croatia, Dalmatia .

Size. Known adult size about 6 cm total length.

Morphology. D V–VI + I,10–12; A I,10; P 17–20. Body relatively short, laterally compressed. Head moderately long, with a steep snout profile. Anterior nostril tubular, with no dermal process from its rim. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin. The uppermost pectoral-fin rays are within the membrane with no free rays ( Miller 1969; Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997). Scales present on body, usually poorly visible on photographs. Predorsal area naked.

Live coloration. Ground coloration white to light gray with a light blue sheen on the back and pearly white markings ventrally. Orange to yellow-orange spots on body ( Fig. 6 ). Five brick red to orange midlateral blotches, 2 to 3 times longer than deeper, each blotch sometimes appearing as 2 contiguous spots. Interspaces between blotches often pearly white. Many short line segments, horizontal or oblique, each of 3-5 light orange dots, above the lateral midline. Head and predorsal area covered with many orange spots larger than the dots of the back but smaller than the midlateral blotches. No V-shaped mark on snout ( Fig. 6 ). One orange, oblique preorbital bar extending onto the upper lip; otherwise the lips are white. Dorsal fins blue-gray with three orange transverse bands and a broader whitish to light blue marginal band. Caudal fin also blue gray with 3-4 sinuous orange bars ( Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997).

Similar species. Gobius kolombatovici , Thorogobius ephippiatus .

Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, known from 6–60 m depth, on detritic coarse sand and gravel, close to rocky shelters, typically at the foot of rocky walls ( Glavičić & Kovačić 2016; Renoult et al. 2022).

Geographic distribution. Northern Mediterranean, presently known from continental Spain (off Barcelona, Colección de referencia de otolitos, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar-CSIC via GBIF) and the Balearic Island of Ibiza ( Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997), between Marseilles in France and Tuscany in Italy including Monaco (Francour 2007), Lipari Island ( Italy; Muriel Duhau unpublished observation), the Adriatic ( Kolombatović 1891; Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997; Guidetti et al. 2006; Trkov et al. 2019), the Turkish Aegean coast (Francour et al. 2007; Bilecenoğlu & Yokes 2016), and further east in that country in the Levant basin (Bilecenoğlu & Yokes 2016).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Thorogobius macrolepis. Photo by S. Guerrieri, Tuscany, Italy.