Silhouettea aegyptia ( Chabanaud, 1933 )

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 : 84

Silhouettea aegyptia ( Chabanaud, 1933) ( Fig. 72 )—Egyptian Goby

Gobius lesueuri aegyptius Chabanaud, 1933: 11 ; type locality: Egypt, Lake Timsah .

Size. Attains about 5 cm total length.

Morphology. D VI + I,9–11; A I,11–12; P 13–15. Body elongate, its depth 6.0–7.0 in standard length. Head with short snout. Eyes dorsolateral, about upper one-third elevated above dorsal profile of head. Caudal peduncle slender, lower than body depth. First dorsal fin higher than second fin, the first spine longest, slightly prolonged in males, giving the fin a triangular shape. Pelvic fins united to form a disc, reaching origin of anal fin. Caudal fin rounded, slightly shorter than head. Scales on body ctenoid, no scales on head, nape, and prepectoral and prepelvic areas. Scales visible on dead specimens from reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges, visibility on live specimens unknown.

Freshly dead coloration. Finely mottled light brown dorsally, grading to white ventrally on head and abdomen, with a midlateral series of 9–10 gray to blackish blotches about eye size or smaller, the first 2 beneath pectoral fin and the last on caudal-fin base, the penultimate being the smallest; most of these blotches are bisected by a vertical, slightly curved, brown-orange line ( Fig. 72 ). A series of similar curved lines below the midlateral row; scattered shorter brownish yellow dashes dorsally. First dorsal fin with three oblique dark crossbands; rays of dorsal three-fourths of caudal fin with aligned small dark dots.

Similar species. Pomatoschistus marmoratus , P. microps .

Habitat. Inhabits silty sand or mud bottom, generally at depths of less than 1 m. Able to quickly bury itself into the sediment to level of eyes; tolerates a wide range of salinities ( Miller & Fouda 1986).

Geographic distribution. Originally restricted to the Red Sea. In the Mediterranean, it has been recorded from Ashdod and Bardawil Lagoon ( Miller & Fouda 1986; Golani 2021) and Syria ( Ali 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 72. Freshly dead coloration of Silhouettea aegyptia. Photo by S.V. Bogorodsky, Al Lith, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea.