Vanneaugobius dollfusi Brownell, 1978

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 : 88-89

Vanneaugobius dollfusi Brownell, 1978 ( Fig. 19 )—Dollfus’ Goby

Vanneaugobius dollfusi Brownell, 1978: 124 , Figs. 1 , 2 , 4 ; type locality: Morocco, off Agadir.

Size. Maximum known size about 3.9 cm total length ( Kovačić 2008b).

Morphology. D VI–VII + I,9–10; A I,8–9; P 16–17. A small species with a moderately elongated body. Caudal peduncle deep, almost as deep as body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin, can be pointed in males with the first spine longest (see Francour et al. 2010 *). Caudal fin rounded, 2 large spinous scales on upper and lower fin base (barely visible, even in close-up photographs). Pelvic fins are separated, also hardly visible from lateral view. Scales present on body, usually poorly visible on photographs. Predorsal area naked ( Kovačić 2008b).

Live coloration. Head and body grayish with pale orange, reddish, rarely pinkish blotches and speckles, or indistinct bars of same colors on a paler background ( Fig. 19 ), sometimes faded depending on the environment and the mood of the fish. Head mostly orange with irregular pale markings or speckles; the tubular anterior nostrils are white. Usually 8–9 pale areas along back (from nape to caudal peduncle), sometimes becoming small white saddles. A series of typical short pearly white bars arranged in 3-5 pairs on lower body (depending on how much visible they are), usually interspersed with midlateral orange elongated blotches. First dorsal fin translucent with orange-red dots along spines. Sometimes an elongate dark spot on anterior basal part of first dorsal fin, but not always visible in the field; this dark spot on the first dorsal fin is present in both sexes, but seems more commonly displayed by females ( Van Tassell et al. 1988; Kovačić 2008b; Louisy 2015).

Similar species. Odondebuenia balearica , Corcyrogobius liechtensteini .

Habitat. Observed or collected underwater by SCUBA diving between 27–60 m depth, often found lying on sediment at the foot of rocky or coralligenous walls or slopes, quickly hiding in a nearby cavity or shelter ( Kovačić 2008b; Francour et al. 2010 *; Le Bris et al. 2015; Glavičić & Kovačić 2016; Glavičić et al. 2016; Dubas et al. 2018). Most of the collected specimens were caught deeper, mostly with beam trawls between 54–160 m depth, on different habitats: coralligenous or rocky grounds, maërl, deep algal beds, shell debris, sand, mud ( Pallaoro & Kovačić 2000; Ahnelt & Dorda 2004; Ordines et al. 2019a).

Geographic distribution. Eastern Atlantic and northern Mediterranean species. Types collected in Agadir, Atlantic coast of Morocco ( Brownell 1978). Known in the Mediterranean from the Balearic Islands (Ordines et al. 2019) to the Aegean Sea, Peloponnese ( Ahnelt & Dorda 2004); records include France, Gulf of Lion (Le Bris et al. 2015), French Riviera ( Duhau et al. 2020c), Corsica ( Francour et al. 2010 *), Italy, Strait of Sicily ( Consoli et al. 2019), Malta ( Kovačić & Schembri 2019) and the Adriatic Sea ( Pallaoro & Kovačić 2000; Ahnelt & Dorda 2004; Kovačić et al. 2012b).

* Although misidentified in the cited report, three good photographs allow for a positive identification of V. dollfusi (which makes them the first French record of this species). See also Louisy (2015).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A) Freshly dead coloration of Trypauchen vagina. Photo by D. Darom, trawled between Hadera and Atlit, Israel. B) Photo of Trypauchen sp. alive, photo by C. Telford, Thailand.

FIGURE 2. Head and predorsal area completely covered with oval to rounded, clearly defined spots. Photos by M. Kovačić, S.V. Bogorodsky, R. Pillon.

FIGURE 4. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Vanderhorstia mertensi. Photo by R. Pillon, Kondyli beach, Peloponnese, Greece.

FIGURE 19. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Vanneaugobius dollfusi. Photo by S. Le Bris, Marseille, Southern France.