Aulopareia unicolor (Valenciennes, 1837)

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 : 42

Aulopareia unicolor (Valenciennes, 1837) ( Fig. 48 )—Greenspot Goby

Gobius unicolor Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1837: 88; type locality: Indonesia, Jawa .

Size. Reaches 13 cm total length.

Morphology. D VI + I,10; A I,9; P 18–19; body stout, moderately elongate and somewhat laterally compressed, body depth 5.2–5.6 in standard length. Head subcylindrical, snout short, obtuse. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin and first to fifth spines longest, not elongate. Pelvic fins united to form a disc. Caudal fin rounded, subequal to head length. Body and nape covered with scales. Scales prominent, visible on body and predorsal area, head naked except for dorsal part of operculum ( Kimura et al. 2018).

Fresh coloration. Body dark grayish brown with many small bright green spots, small black spots on side of abdomen and usually a diffuse blue-green mark above posterior part of opercle; a small black spot at upper caudal-fin base ( Fig. 48 ).

Similar species. Dark males of Gobius niger and G. paganellus .

Habitat. Inhabits brackish estuaries or shallow sandy areas.

Geographic distribution. In the Indian Ocean known only from Kerala, southwestern India (based on the specimen CAS 29748 identified by H. Larson), not recorded in the Red Sea. Also reported from the Gulf of Thailand, western Indonesia, Vietnam, and China in the western Pacific Ocean. Mediterranean records of the species are based on specimens collected from Port Said and Damietta, Egypt ( Akel & Rizkalla 2017).

Figures

FIGURE 48. Freshly dead coloration of Aulopareia unicolor. Photo by Z. Jaafar, Lake Songkla, Thailand.