Grass goby

Grass goby
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Gobiidae
Subfamily: Gobiinae
Genus: Zosterisessor
Whitley, 1935
Species: Z. ophiocephalus
Binomial name
Zosterisessor ophiocephalus
(Pallas, 1814)
Synonyms

Genus

  • Zostericola Iljin, 1927 (pre-occupied)

Species

  • Gobius ophiocephalus Pallas, 1814
  • Gobius viridis A. W. Otto, 1821
  • Gobius filamentosus A. Risso, 1827
  • Gobius reticulatus Eichwald, 1831
  • Gobius lota Valenciennes, 1837
  • Gobius venetiarum Nardo, 1847
  • Gobius gous Nardo, 1847
  • Gobius ophiocephalus citrina Ninni, 1938

The grass goby (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus) is a species of goby native to the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It is currently the only known member of its genus.[2]

Characteristic

Grass Gobies can grow up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long. The head crown, nape, throat, belly and base of the pectoral fins are covered by cycloid scales[3] and the gill covers are nacked. The abdominal sucker has no blades and does not reach the anus. The mandibula are protrusive, and the skin soft, with mucous. The coloration is green-brown, patterned with merging brown spots. The cheeks have round light spots. The dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins have longitudinal brown stripes on a light background; the anal and abdominal sucker are dark.

Range

the Grass goby from the Tylihul Estuary, Ukraine

Widespread in coastal waters of all seas of the Mediterranean basin. Especially numerous in the northern Adriatic Sea, Venetian Lagoon and Sète Lagoon (France). In the Black Sea near all coasts, especially in lagoons and estuaries of the north-west, Varna and Burgas Bays, Sea of Azov, and Sivash. Mentioned for the Dniester River delta.

Feeding

Up until age two Grass Gobies feed only on crustaceans, after which they start to eat fish. In Tuzly Lagoons they first feed on gammarids Gammarus lacustris (94%), and Idotea balthica (6%)[4] followed by fish like the big-scale sand smelt (30%) and gobies (36%). Shrimp Palaemon adspersus also play an important role.

Parasites

27 parasite species are known from the grass goby near the Crimean coasts.[5] The acanthocephalans Acanthocephaloides propinquus are mos numerous. In the north-western Black Sea this fish has 13 parasite species.[6][7] Except for the aforementioned A. propinquus, another acanthocephalan, Telosentis exiguus, is very numerous. Both are Mediterranean immigrants such as their host, the grass goby. Also, the Ponto-Caspian cestodes Proteocephalus gobiorum and monogeneans Gyrodactylus proterorhini were very numerous. In the Budaki Lagoon the grass goby is a host of larvae of epizootic nematode Streptocara crassicauda.

Importance

Grass goby for sale in a Sardinian market, Italy

The grass goby is a dietary item for some commercial fishes, such as the toad goby.[8] In the Sea of Azov it is used for food by the harbour porpoise.[9]

The grass goby is commercial fish in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the Molochnyi Estuary, Tuzly's Lagoons and in the Sivash.

References

External identifiers for Grass goby
Encyclopedia of Life 1012834
ITIS 172086
NCBI 85428
WoRMS 126942
Also found in: FishBase
  1. ↑ Herler, J.; Kovacic, M. & Williams, J.T. (2014). "Zosterisessor ophiocephalus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). "Zosterisessor ophiocephalus" in FishBase. June 2013 version.
  3. ↑ Smirnov A.I. (1986) Perch-likes (gobiids), scorpionfishes, flatfishes, clingfishes, anglerfishes [in:] Fauna of Ukraine, Vol. 8, No 5, Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 320 pp. (in Russian)
  4. ↑ Dolgiy V.N. (1962) Materialy po biologii bychka-travianika Zosterisessor ophiocephalus - v usloviyah limanov Tuzlovskoy gruppy. Uchenyje zapiski Kishinevskogo universiteta, 62(1): 129-135. (in Russian)
  5. ↑ Naidenova N.N. (1974) parazitofauna ryb semeystva bychkovyh Chernogo i Azovskogo morey, Kiev, Naukova Dumka, 182 pp. (in Russian)
  6. ↑ Y. Kvach (2005). "A comparative analysis of helminth faunas and infection of ten species of gobiid fishes (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) from the North-Western Black Sea" (PDF). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria. 35 (2): 103–110.
  7. ↑ Kvach Y. (2005) Helminth fauna of the grass goby Zosterisessor ophiocephalus in the water bodies of the North-Western Black Sea region. Ekologicheskaya Bezopasnost pribrezhnoy i shelfovoj zon i kompleksnoye ispolzovaniye resursov shelfa. (Eds.) V.A. Ivanov et al., No 12, pp. 603–609. (in Russian)
  8. ↑ Grinbart S.B. (1960) K izucheniye pitaniya ryb Grigoryevskogo limana. Yezhegodnik Odesskogo univeriteta (Biologichekiy fakultet): 2: 167-172. (in Russian)
  9. ↑ Ilyin B.S. (1949) Kratkiy obzor chernomorskih bychkov (Pisces, Gobiidae). Buleten MOIP (Otd. Biol.), 54(3): 16-30. (in Russian)
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