Pomatoschistus norvegicus ( Collett, 1902 )

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 : 81

Pomatoschistus norvegicus ( Collett, 1902) ( Fig. 69 )— Norway Goby

Gobius minutus norvegicus Collett, 1902: 54 ; type locality: Norway, Breviksfjord .

Size. Maximum size 6.5 cm total length (Miller 1986).

Morphology. D VI + I,8–10; A I,8–11; P 16–18 (Miller 1986). Moderately small goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin, head slightly depressed and moderately large. Snout moderately large and pointed. Eyes dorsolateral, interorbital space moderately 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 (Miller 1986). Scales present on body, possibly visible on photographs, at least dorsally. Predorsal area scaled at least posteriorly.

Live coloration. Body pale fawn, somewhat translucent, covered with faint darker reticulation and scattered ferruginous to orange dots ( Fig. 69 ). Often a lateral series of dark blotches, largest one below first dorsal fin, and darker one on caudal-fin base. Usually a preorbital dark bar extending from the eye through upper lip, often to the chin. Adult male with about 10–12 narrow dark bars across side of body, pigmented breast, and a black spot bordered in blue dorsally and ventrally in rear part of the first dorsal fin (Miller 1986; Louisy 2015).

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

Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral to bathyal species, from 18–325 m depth, soft bottom and mussel grounds (Miller 1986).

Geographic distribution. Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean, along the north coast from Alboran Sea to Aegean Sea (Miller 1986). Also recorded in the Adriatic Sea ( Stefanni 2000). In the Atlantic Ocean known from Normandy, France and Irish coast to Norway (Miller 1986).

Figures

FIGURE 69. Live coloration in its natural habitat of Pomatoschistus norvegicus from Atlantic Ocean. Photo by R. Svensen, Ryfylke, Norway.