Knipowitschia caucasica (Berg, 1916)

Zarei, Fatah, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Abbasi, Keyvan, Kovačić, Marcelo, Schliewen, Ulrich K. & Stepien, Carol A., 2022, Gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae) of the oldest and deepest Caspian Sea sub-basin: an evidence-based annotated checklist and a key for species identification, Zootaxa 5190 (2), pp. 151-193 : 171

22. Knipowitschia caucasica (Berg, 1916) ( Fig. 17 ), Caucasian Dwarf Goby

Pomatoschistus caucasicus Berg, 1916: 409 ; type locality: swamp near Batum and Inkit Lake near Pitsunda , Georgia ( Black Sea basin); syntypes: BMNH 1896.3.28.26-28 [ex Tiflis Mus.] (3).

Etymology: Refers to its discovery on the Black Sea Caucasian coast of Georgia.

Distribution and habitat: A widespread Ponto-Caspian species, also recorded in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Miller et al. 2004). Widespread in the Caspian Sea basin ( Fig. 16B ), Sea of Azov and Black Sea basins, and also introduced in the Aral Sea, in addition it is found outside this region, in the Aegean and eastern Ionian catchments and transitional waters. Euryhaline, in fresh to markedly hypersaline waters, typically in weedy shallows or near reed beds on finer substrates (Miller et al. 2004).

Remarks: A preliminary phylogeographic analysis by Zarei et al. (2021) has identified four apparently allopatric lineages having low genetic exchange, including: (i) the Aegean Sea basin ( Greece) lineage with little population substructure, (ii) the Axios ( Greece) lineage, (iii) a lineage from Rihios and Volvi ( Greece) and the Black Sea basin, and (iv) the South Caspian Sea sub-basin lineage. Average pairwise genetic distances between these lineages varied from 1.0–2.2% ( Zarei et al. 2021).

Material examined: ZM-CBSU S010, 6, off Anzali ; ZM-CBSU S039, 63, Anzali Wetland ; ZM-CBSU S053, 74, Bojagh National Park ; ZM-CBSU S056, 7, coastal waters of Gilan Province, Iran ; ZM-CBSU S079, 4, Aras River Dam, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran .

IUCN: LC ( Freyhof & Kottelat 2008g).

Figures

FIGURE 16. Distribution of (A) Hyrcanogobius bergi, (B) Knipowitschia caucasica, (C) Knipowitschia iljini, and (D) Knipowitschia longecaudata.

FIGURE 17. Knipowitschia caucasica. ZM-CBSU S039-5, 26.8 mm SL, Anzali Wetland, Gilan Province, Iran.