Millerigobius macrocephalus, (Kolombatovic, 1891) (Kolombatovic, 1891)

Artüz, M. Levent & Fricke, Ronald, 2020, Response to the comments regarding “ The marine teleost fishes of the Sea of Marmara; an updated and annotated checklist ” by Artüz & Fricke (2019), Zootaxa 4802 (2), pp. 395-400 : 398

17 .

As stated in the relevant article (Bogorodsky et al. 2014, P: 218), the finding of Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatović, 1891) is placed both in the text and map in the territory of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Strait) in the given coordinates of 40˚ 03′00″ N, 26˚ 12′ 42″E, July 2007, Coll. O.Ozen.

As clearly stated in Artüz & Fricke (2019) Sea of Marmara is a complex structure with the straits Bosporus and Dardanelles between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Just as some of the records are originated from the Bosporus, some of the records belong to the Dardanelles. The region where the collection takes place is clearly located within the boundaries of the Sea of Marmara! Therefore this record was taken as a record of the Sea of Marmara. The incorrect presentation of the location in the author’s own article is not understood.

Remark. The Sea of Marmara consists of an oceanographic structure with two different water masses which located on top of each other. These two water masses are clearly separated from one another by an interface. Without knowing this situation, it is impossible to establish the borders of the Sea of Marmara. For this reason, in order to be understandable, when the Sea of Marmara is mentioned, the region between the Aegean Sea exit of the Dardanelles and the Black Sea exit of the Bosporus is defined.