Gobius roulei de Buen, 1928 (Fig. 58)—Roule’s Goby

Gobius roulei de Buen, 1928: 1, figs. 1–2, type locality: western Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Baleares Islands, Mallorca, Palma Bay, Porto Pi .

Size. Known adult size about 8–9 cm total length.

Morphology. D VI + I,12–14;A I,12; P 17–19. Medium-sized goby with a relatively slender body, proportionately large head with a short and steep snout. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body. First dorsal fin high and pointed with elongate spines in males, more often with a triangular rounded shape in females (and about height of second dorsal fin). Pectoral-fin free rays moderately developed. Caudal fin rounded. Scales present on body, usually visible on photographs, at least dorsally (Fig. 58). Predorsal area naked (Miller 1986). Rows of dark sensory papillae sometimes visible on nape.

Live coloration. Background coloration whitish, grayish or pale orange. Lateral midline covered with an almost continuous line of brown to black dots between pectoral and caudal fins; this line is slightly broadened at regular intervals to form 5 to 6 midlateral blotches (Fig. 58). Back mottled orange to dark brown, with white or gray patches sometimes forming narrow saddles, ventral side almost uniformly light cream, with only faint grayish markings below the midlateral blotches (Fig. 58). Lips white, unmarked. Oculoscapular dark line well visible, beginning with a short and broad orange to pink dash just behind eye. Dorsal-fin membranes pale, with a yellow shade on distal half, and 2 to 3 faint, darker transverse bands on proximal half. Basal half of first spine of each dorsal fin with alternating white and black dashes along leading edge (Fig. 58) (Renoult et al. 2022).

Similar species. Gobus niger, G. gasteveni, G. geniporus .

Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral to bathyal species known from 1 to 385 m depth (Maul 1976) on sand or coarse sand, among seagrass or bedrocks (Kovačić 1995).

Geographic distribution Mediterranean, in the Atlantic recorded only in southern Portugal (Maul 1976). It was described from the Balearic Islands (de Buen 1928), and since has been recorded throughout northern Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Malta (Kovačić & Schembri 2019) and Cyprus (Kovačić & Golani 2006), including southern France (Le Bris & Louisy 2015), the Ligurian Sea (Liu et al. 2009b), Adriatic Sea (Kovačić 1995; Lipej et al. 2005), Aegean Sea and Levant (Bilecenoğlu et al. 2014).