Didogobius splechtnai Ahnelt & Patzner, 1995

Iglésias, Samuel P., Bariche, Michel, Beau, Florent, Bérenger, Lucas, Beucher, Renaud, Chabrolle, Antoine, Cottalorda, Jean-Michel, Cousin, Bertrand, Curd, Amelia, Danet, Valentin, Duhamel, Erwan, Duval, Audrey, Farque, Pierre-André, Goascoz, Nicolas, Jadaud, Angélique, Larnaud, Pascal, Bouter, Mathieu Le, Bras, Yvan Le, Bris, Sylvain Le, Lombard, Laurent, Louisy, Patrick, Mandine, Alain, Mas, Lise, Menut, Thomas, Metral, Luisa, Poussard, Pierre, Quéro, Jean-Claude, Raybaud, Virginie, Renoult, Julien P., Richard, Thomas, Spitz, Jérôme, Ternon, Quentin, Thiriet, Pierre & Tournier-Broer, Ruben, 2021, French ichthyological records for 2019, Cybium 45 (3), pp. 169-188 : 181

Didogobius splechtnai Ahnelt & Patzner, 1995

A Splechtna’s goby, Gobiidae ( Fig. 7D ), was observed and photographed on 16 Jun 2019 by S. Le Bris while scuba diving in the Blé cove at Giens Peninsula (43.0294°N, 6.0948°E, Mediterranean Sea) at 33 m depth. The individual, ca. 4 cm TL, was observed lying on coarse sand close to a coralline wall ( Le Bris et al., 2019f). The species was first described from Ibiza (Balearic Islands) and was first recorded in French waters in 2005 in the Cap Roux Marine Reserve and La Ciotat. It was again observed in 2006 at Port- Cros and Villefranche-sur-Mer, and in 2007 at Antibes. The observations were performed at 11-42 m depth within caves or cavities of coralligenous concretions ( Francour, 2008). The species was also mentioned by Iglésias et al. (2020). The scarcity of records of the species may be related to its cryptic habitat.

Figures

Figure 7. – Significant French ichthyological records for 2019 (continued). A: Deltentosteus collonianus, ~6 cm TL, 15 Feb. 2019 (© S. Le Bris); B: D. collonianus, ~7 cm TL, 19 Feb. 2019 (© L. Bérenger); C: D. collonianus, ~6 cm TL, male, 27 Feb. 2019 (© S. Le Bris); D: Didogobius splechtnai, ~4 cm TL, 16 Jun 2019 (© S. Le Bris); E: D. schlieweni, ~4 cm TL, 26 Jun 2019 (© A. Mandine); F: D. schlieweni, ~5 cm TL, 19 Jul 2019 (© S. Le Bris); G: Didogobius schlieweni, ~4 cm TL, 19 Aug 2019 (© S. Le Bris).