Gobius ophiocephalus Pallas, 1814

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 : 61

Gobius ophiocephalus Pallas, 1814 ( Fig. 44 )—Grass Goby

Gobius ophiocephalus Pallas, 1814: 153 , type locality: Black Sea , coasts of Crimea.

Size. Known adult size about 15–20 cm, reaching 25 cm total length.

Morphology. D V–VII + I,13–16; A I,12–16; P 17–20. Body stout and distinctly compressed laterally (for a Gobius species), especially on caudal peduncle. Proportionally small eyes. Snout moderately long and with a moderately steep profile. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. The first dorsal fin about equal to, or shorter than the second dorsal fin, with more or less rounded distal edge. Dorsal-fin ray tips become free from membrane in reproductive males (Toricelli et al. 2000). Caudal fin rounded. Scales small, visible on body and usually also on predorsal area as pattern of pale dots. Predorsal area and nape scaled (Miller 1986).

Live coloration. Body coloration gray-green to pale fawn dorsally, whitish to yellow-green ventrally ( Fig. 44 ). Eight to fourteen irregular, vertical dark bars along the lateral midline, forming dark lateral zigzag markings in combination with a series of 10 or more dark areas alternating with pale interspaces on lower side. A diffuse, light to golden dorsolateral stripe runs from predorsal area to caudal-fin base, not always visible ( Fig. 44 ). It is bordered ventrally by an olive-brown stripe, and dorsally by a dark vertebral stripe. In the Adriatic, these stripes can be interrupted by dark transverse saddles. One oblique dark preorbital bar, bordered ventrally by a white suborbital bar. Cheek and preopercle mottled brown-olive with white spots of various sizes and irregular shapes ( Fig. 44 ). First dorsal fin reddish with 4 gray-blue transverse bands. Second dorsal fin with the same color but with gray-blue irregular markings not forming clearly defined bands, and with many small white dots ( Renoult et al. 2022).

Similar species. Gobius cobitis .

Habitat. Known from 0.1–3 m depth, eurythermal and euryhyaline, on soft bottoms with marine phanerogams in estuaries and coastal lagoons ( Kara & Quignard 2019).

Geographic distribution. Mediterranean, Adriatic, Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Along the African coasts, confirmed records from Libya and Tunisia ( Hajji et al. 2013).

Remark. Often classified in its own genus Zosterisessor Whitley, 1935 , but its position within the genus Gobius was confirmed by a phylogenetic analysis ( Iglésias et al. 2021a).

Figures

FIGURE 44. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Gobius ophiocephalus. Photo by S.V. Bogorodsky, Russia, Black Sea.