Cryptocentrus steinhardti Goren & Stern, 2021

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 : 48

Cryptocentrus steinhardti Goren & Stern, 2021 ( Fig. 46 )—Steinhardt’s Shrimpgoby

Cryptocentrus steinhardti Goren & Stern, 2021: 1 ; type locality: eastern Mediterranean Sea , Israel, Ashdod .

Size. Reaches 8.2 cm total length.

Morphology. D VI + I,10; A I,9; P 15. Body elongate, the depth 6.5 in standard length. Head subcylindrical, snout short and blunt. Eyes elevated above dorsal profile of head ( Fig. 46 ). Caudal peduncle slender, clearly lower than body height. Third and fourth spines of first dorsal fin longest, elongate. Second dorsal fin subequal in height to first fin. Pelvic fins joined medially, reaching anus. Caudal fin rounded, clearly longer than head length ( Fig. 46 ). Body covered with scales; no scales on head and pectoral-fin base, but scales not visible or poorly visible on live specimen photographs.

Live coloration. Body whitish or yellowish with three slightly oblique brown bars ( Fig. 46 ), the first below first dorsal fin, second and third below anterior and posterior part of second dorsal fin respectively, large irregular brown spot or bar at caudal-fin base, and scattered brown spots about pupil size in pale interspaces; predorsal area, nape and dorsal part of opercle with small irregular dark brown blotches.

Similar species. Oxyurichthys petersii .

Habitat. In the Mediterranean, inhabits soft substrata of open sand areas at depths of 11–80 m; observed to share a burrow with snapping shrimps ( Goren & Stern 2021; P. Louisy unpublished observations).

Geographic distribution. At present is known only from three specimens caught in the eastern Mediterranean off the southern Israeli coast and underwater photographs taken in southern Turkey at Kas ( Goren & Stern 2021; present study), recently was photographed in the Red Sea at Eilat, Israel (Bogorodsky & Goren, in prep.) .

Figures

FIGURE 46. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Cryptocentrus steinhardti Goren & Stern, 2021. Photo by P. Louisy, Kas, Turkey, Eastern Mediterranean.