Ponticola gorlap (Iljin, 1949)

Zarei, Fatah, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Abbasi, Keyvan, Kovačić, Marcelo, Schliewen, Ulrich K. & Stepien, Carol A., 2022, Gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae) of the oldest and deepest Caspian Sea sub-basin: an evidence-based annotated checklist and a key for species identification, Zootaxa 5190 (2), pp. 151-193 : 178-179

32. Ponticola gorlap (Iljin, 1949) ( Fig. 29 ), Caspian Bighead Goby

Neogobius kessleri gorlap Iljin in Berg, 1949: 1087; type locality: Caspian Sea and tributary rivers; types: no type material exists. The original description by Berg (1949) was based on information supplied by B. S. Iljin in a 1941 manuscript which is now lost.

Etymology: The species name gorlap likely is derived from a local term.

Distribution and habitat: Present in all three areas of the Caspian Sea and entering various freshwaters of the Caspian drainage. A bottom-living euryhaline fish found in brackish inshore habitats (usually from 0.5–10 m in depth, and rarely 10–20 m) and a wide range of freshwater habitats in the Caspian Sea ( Vasil’eva & Vasil’ev 2003b; Zarei et al. 2021) ( Fig. 27B ).

Material examined: ZM-CBSU S040 & ZM-CBSU S076, 2 , off Anzali; ZM-CBSU S042 & ZM-CBSU S096, 60 , Siahdarvishan River ; ZM-CBSU S045, 9 , Shafaroud mouth; ZM-CBSU S050, 4 , Oshmakroud mouth; ZM-CBSU S060, 53 , Sefidroud mouth; ZM-CBSU S060.3 , 5, Sefidroud at Keysum; ZM-CBSU S077, 1 , off Kiashahr; ZM-CBSU S078, 2 , Anzali Wetland; ZM-CBSU S082, 1 , off Astara; ZM-CBSU S093, 30 , Sefidroud at Imamzadehashem; ZM-CBSU S094 & ZM-CBSU S095, 150 , Chalvand River ; ZM-CBSU S097 , Sefidroud at Koucheasfahan, Gilan Province, Iran ; ZM-CBSU S041, 64 , Babolroud; ZM-CBSU S065 -S067, 6 , Neka; ZM-CBSU S098, 60 , Neka River (Nekaroud), Mazandaran Province, Iran .

IUCN: LC ( Freyhof & Kottelat 2008k).

Figures

FIGURE 27. Distributions of (A) Ponticola hircaniaensis, Ponticola iranicus, Ponticola patimari, and Ponticola cyrius, (B) Ponticola gorlap, (C) Ponticola goebelii, (D) Ponticola syrman, and (E) Proterorhinus nasalis in the Caspian Sea basin.

FIGURE 29. Ponticola gorlap. Polroud River, Gilan Province, Iran (Zarei et al. 2022a).