Speleogobius llorisi Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen, 2016

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 : 84-85

Speleogobius llorisi Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen, 2016 ( Fig. 13 )—Lloris’ Grotto Goby

Speleogobius llorisi Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen, 2016: 302 , Figs. 2–5 ; type locality: western Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Balearic Islands, Mallorca .

Size. Maximum size about 3 cm total length.

Morphology. D VI + I,6–7; A I,5–7; P 15. Body slender, laterally compressed. Head long, slightly depressed. Snout pointed, equal to or longer than eye diameter. S econd dorsal and anal fins with short base and low ray counts (see fin meristics). Caudal peduncle slender, lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin. Caudal fin truncate (Kovačić et al. 2016; Engin et al. 2017; Kovačić & Glavičić 2019). Scales present on body and on predorsal area, poorly visible on photographs.

Live coloration. The general hue may vary from beige to brown to reddish brown depending on the environment and the fish’s mood. Predorsal area reddish brown to whitish brown, underside of head, cheek and opercle mostly red with poorly visible white parts (Engin et al. 2017), occasionally also yellowish ( Kovačić & Glavičić 2019). Three dark bars on dorsal half of body, alternating with 4 pale areas, these 3 bars connected to 4 dark blotches on lower side of body, one more midlateral blotch on the posterior ventral part of caudal peduncle ( Duhau-Spielmann et al. 2021) ( Fig. 13 ). Caudal peduncle uniformly pale dorsally, dark ventrally. Dark bars and blotches may be quite diffuse in males, resulting in most of the body being rather uniformly dark, except caudal peduncle dorsally. Dorsal fins with a wide beige to whitish outer margin.

Similar species. Speleogobius trigloides .

Habitat. Circalittoral species, known from 32–69 m depth on rhodolith beds or detritic coarse sand and gravel (Kovačić et al. 2016; Engin et al. 2017; Kovačić & Glavičić 2019; Duhau-Spielmann et al. 2021; J. Renoult, unpublished observation).

Geographic distribution. Northern Mediterranean, presently known from the Balearic Islands (Kovačić et al. 2016) to the Aegean Sea (Engin et al. 2017), including France ( Duhau-Spielmann et al. 2021; J. Renoult unpublished observation), Malta ( Kovačić & Schembri 2019) and the Adriatic Sea ( Kovačić & Glavičić 2019).

Figures

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 3. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Cryptocentrus caeruleopunctatus. Photo by S.V. Bogorodsky, Lahami Bay, Egypt, Red Sea.

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

FIGURE 5. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Thorogobius ephippiatus. Photo by S. Guerrieri, Tuscany, Italy.

FIGURE 13. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Speleogobius llorisi. Photo by R. Tournier-Broer, Saint-Raphaël, Southern France.