Gobius couchi Miller & El-Tawil, 1974

Iglésias, Samuel P., Bergot, Patricia, Breton, Pascal, Brunelle, Stéphanie, Camusat, Mathieu, Causse, Romain, Charbonnel, Éric, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Cordier, Yves, Cosquer, Paul, Cuillandre, Jean-Pierre, Curd, Amelia, Dubas, Rémy, Duhau, Muriel, Derrien-Courtel, Sandrine, Devique, Gabriel, Dixneuf, Stéphane, Duhamel, Erwan, Farque, Pierre-André, Francour, Patrice, Fontana, Yann, Gamon, Adelaïde, Gicqueau, Charly, Goascoz, Nicolas, Hassani, Sami, Jadaud, Angélique, Kopp, Dorothée, Lamour, Laure, Bris, Sylvain Le, Lévèque, Laurent, Liger, Pablo, Lorance, Pascal, Louisy, Patrick, Maran, Vincent, Méhault, Sonia, Metral, Luisa, Morin-Repinçay, Alizée, Mouchel, Olivier, Pere, Anthony, Quéro, Jean-Claude, Renoult, Julien P., Roche, François, Schweyer, Livier, Spitz, Jérôme, Thiriet, Pierre & Thomas, Wilfried, 2020, French ichthyological records for 2018, Cybium 44 (4), pp. 285-307 : 300

Gobius couchi Miller & El-Tawil, 1974

Several Couch’s goby, Gobiidae ( Fig. 7 F-G), were observed and photographed by P. Louisy while scuba diving on 9 Aug. 2018 in the mouth of the Rance River (North Brittany, English Channel, France; 48.5958°N, – 2.0174°W), at 8 m depth (at low tide). The fishes were observed on coarse shell debris between boulders mostly covered with red algae and some orange sponges, in an area prone to significant tidal currents. The individuals were about 6-7 cm TL. This is the first record of this species for the French coast of the English Channel. The first French record of Couch’s gobies was in Port-Vendres, Southern France; 42.5203°N, 3.1125°E ( Louisy, 2005). This goby seems to be associated with protected estuaries. It is poorly known and probably often confused with similar species living in these habitats ( Baldock and Kay, 2012); for example G. niger (Linnaeus, 1758) or G. paganellus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the English Channel.

Figures

Figure 7. – Significant French ichthyo- logical records for 2018 (continued). A: Buenia affinis, ~3 cm TL, 6 Aug. 2018; B: Buenia jeffreysii, 37 and 39 mm TL, 23 Oct. 2018; C: Chromogobius zebratus, ~5 cm TL, 13 Feb. 2018 (reversed photograph); D: Didogobius splechtnai, ~4 cm TL, 9 Jun. 2018 (reversed photograph); E: Gammogobius steinitzi, ~3 cm TL, 9 Jun. 2018; F-G: Gobius couchi, ~6-7 cm TL, 9 Aug. 2018 (reversed photographs); H: Gobius kolombatovici, ~6 cm TL, 1 Nov. 2018; I: G. kolombatovici, ~6 cm TL, 9 Jun. 218; J: G. kolombatovici, ~7 cm TL, 17 Jun. 2018 (reversed photograph).