Pomatoschistus microps ( Krøyer, 1838 ), Benthic

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 : 77

Pomatoschistus microps ( Krøyer, 1838) ( Fig. 66 )—Common Goby

Gobius microps Krøyer, 1838: 172 , Pl. 102 (fig. 3); type locality: England, Somersetshire , Weston-super-Mare .

Size. Maximum size 6.4 cm total length (Miller 1986).

Morphology. D VI(V–VII) + I,8–11;A I,7–10; P 15–20 (Miller 1986). Moderately small goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin, head slightly depressed and moderately large. Snout moderately large and pointed. Eyes dorsolateral, interorbital space moderately narrow. Caudal peduncle long and slender, clearly lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin and no elongated spines. Caudal fin rounded. Scales present on body, sometimes visible on photographs at least dorsally. Predorsal area, nape and most of the area under the first dorsal fin naked.

Live coloration. Background color light gray to beige, with many small, irregular, white or more or less dark dots and spots. Depending on the environment, light colors may prevail, with almost no recognizable patterns ( Fig. 66b ). Or there can be more contrasting patterns: usually 5, sometimes ill-defined whitish dorsal saddles, 1 below first dorsal-fin, 2 below second dorsal fin, 2 on caudal peduncle ( Fig. 66a ), and in some instances, a narrower and often fainter sixth saddle on nape above pectoral-fin base; sometimes a midlateral series of dark blotches, often ill defined; in some instances, a deep (i.e., not superficial) oblique blackish blotch between abdominal cavity and base of first dorsal fin. Typically 2 suborbital dark bars, one from anterior edge of eye to upper lip, a second one, less obvious and more irregular, from rear edge of eye to just behind corner of mouth ( Fig. 66a ). Sometimes a whitish dot on nape, just behind eyes, more or less edged in dark pigment (quite similar to P. marmoratus and Deltentosteus quadrimaculatus ). In males, first dorsal fin with alternate red-brown and pale longitudinal stripes, and an elongate black or bluish spot in its rear part, but not close to the edge ( Fig. 66a ).

Similar species. Pomatoschistus adriaticus , P. marmoratus , P. minutus .

Habitat. Infralittoral species, on soft bottoms from a few centimeters to 10 m depth, mainly in brackish, low salinity water ( Renoult et al. 2016; Patzner 2021).

Geographic distribution. Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. Restricted in the Mediterranean to the northwestern coast of the western Mediterranean (Miller 1986). The easternmost and southernmost Mediterranean records are from Sicily (Tiralongo et al. 2019). In the Atlantic Ocean, known from the Canary Islands to Norway (Miller 1986).

Figures

FIGURE 66. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Pomatoschistus microps, A) male, B) female. Photos by R. Groenveld, Netherlands.