Pomatoschistus minutus ( Pallas, 1770 )

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 : 79-80

Pomatoschistus minutus ( Pallas, 1770) ( Fig. 67 )—Sand Goby

Gobius minutus Pallas, 1770: 4 ; type locality: Belgian Sea.

Size. Maximum size 9.5 cm total length (Miller 1986).

Morphology. D VI (VI–VII) + I,10–12;A I,9–12; P 18–21 (Miller 1986). Medium-sized goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin, head slightly depressed and moderately large. Snout moderately large and pointed. Eyes dorsolateral, interorbital space quite 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 and on predorsal area at least posteriorly, usually visible on photographs at least dorsally.

Live coloration. Background color pale with irregular reticulation and light brown, white or gray spots. Usually light colored with no recognizable pattern ( Fig. 67a ), but sometimes with more contrasting markings: 7, often illdefined whitish dorsal saddles, the first, narrower and often fainter than the others, on nape above pectoral-fin base, 2 below first dorsal-fin, 2 below second dorsal fin, 2 on caudal peduncle ( Fig. 67 ); variable number of faint brown spots and vertical lines along midline, with one horizontal darker horizontal T-shaped blotch on caudal-fin base. One suborbital dark bar, often obvious, between eye and side of upper lip. No pale dot on nape behind eyes. First dorsal fin poorly pigmented, often with a blue-black spot on the distal rear corner, close to the edge, including in females ( Fig. 67b ).

Similar species. Pomatoschistus marmoratus , P. microps , P. norvegicus .

Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, on soft bottoms from less than 1–70 m depth (Miller 1986).

Geographic distribution. Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea. Recorded in the Mediterranean along the north coast from the Alboran Sea to Aegean Sea (Miller 1986; Özen et al. 2007), also common in the Black Sea (Miller 1986). In the Atlantic Ocean known from Gibraltar to Norway (Miller 1986).

Figures

FIGURE 67. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Pomatoschistus minutus. A) Espiguette sand bank, Gulf of Lion, South France, Mediterranean, photo by T. Menut. B) Stavanger, Norway, Atlantic Ocean, photo by R. Svensen.