Pomatoschistus adriaticus Miller, 1973

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 : 73

Pomatoschistus adriaticus Miller, 1973 ( Fig. 62 )—Mediterranean Painted Goby

Pomatoschistus pictus adriaticus Miller, 1973: 72 ; type locality: Adriatic Sea , Croatia, Split .

Size. Maximum size 5.3 cm total length ( Miller 1973).

Morphology. D VI + I,8–9; A I,8–9; P 17–19 ( Miller 1973). Moderately small goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin, head slightly depressed and moderately large. Snout pointed, moderately large. Eyes dorsolateral, interorbital space narrow. Caudal peduncle deep, but 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, usually visible on photographs at least dorsally. Predorsal area naked ( Öztürk & Engin 2019).

Live coloration. Body pale gray to pale brown with 5 whitish saddles and dark mottled pattern ( Fig. 62 ), the first narrow light saddle, at the origin of first dorsal fin, is followed by 2 broader ones below second dorsal fin, and 2 on caudal peduncle. Body with 5 dark midlateral blotches, sometimes reduced to double black dots, extend from below the above light saddles, the last blotch appearing as a horizontal black mark on caudal-fin base. Cheeks pale gray, with only scattered black dots. A dark patch around upper pectoral-fin base divides in 2 oblique branches over upper and lower opercle and preopercle. Dorsal fins with three horizontal pale brown to pinkish lines (often with rows of black dots) alternating with three whitish to light blue lines.

Similar species. Pomatoschistus bathi , P. nanus , P. marmoratus , P. microps .

Habitat. Infralittoral species, on coarse sand containing biogenic calcareous fragments and shell gravel with coralline deposits ( Öztürk & Engin 2019), sand at 1–20 m depth ( Patzner 2021).

Geographic distribution. Mediterranean. Known from southern France, the Adriatic Sea and the Sea of Marmara (summarized by Patzner 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 62. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Pomatoschistus adriaticus. Photo by S. Guerrieri, Rijeka, Croatia, northern Adriatic Sea.