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- Gobius couchi . A : Preserved specimen, PMR VP2884, juvenile of unidentified sex, 18.2 + 4.2 mm, Tigné E, Malta. B : Map of the Mediterranean showing previous records ( ▲ ) and new find - ing ( ● ).
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Individuals of small juvenile gobies, some of them just 10 mm long, were collected during a study on infralittoral cobble bed fauna around the Maltese Islands between July and September 2011. These represent the first records of three gobiid species for Malta, including Gobius couchi Miller & El Tawil, 1974 and the smallest known juveniles of Mille...
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... No suborbital row a . Seven transverse suborbital rows of senso- ry papillae. Row b anteriorly beginning below rear border of eye. Two or four interorbital papillae present behind pore λ . Four individuals of M. macrocephalus were collected in all, three from Manoel Island (I1) (depth: 6 m) and one from Tigné (H2) (depth: 10 m), both localities placed at the north- east coast of Malta Island. All four specimens were found within a cobble habitat similar to that found at Tigné (H5), described above. The morphology of all four juveniles was developed enough to match diagnostic characters of the species in adults. The basic colouration pattern of the adults could be recognised on the juvenile PMR VP2881, 11.5 + 2.9 mm (Fig. 3B), but was still not developed in three other early juveniles (specimens PMR VP2880, 11.4 + 2.8 mm, PMR VP2883, 10.2 + 2.6 mm and PMR VP2879, 8.5 + 2.4 mm, (Fig. 3A). The present findings are the smallest known spec - imens of this species. All previously published records of M. macrocephalus (Fig. 3C) were of significantly larger males or females, except in Kovačić et al. (2011), who reported slightly larger juveniles (of unidentified sex, 12.1 + 2.9 mm and 12.2 + 3.1 mm) with the diagnostic characters of M. macrocephalus and with a photo of a smaller specimen with recognisable adult colouration pattern (Fig. 8 in Kovačić et al. , 2011). M. macrocephalus is a small Mediterranean cryp- tobenthic gobiid species known from Mar Menor (Spain) in the west, along the north coast of the Mediterranean to the Levant (Israel) in the east (Kovačić et al. , 2012). The present finding at Malta represents a south-east extension of the known range of this species (Fig. 3C). Juvenile of unidentified sex, PMR VP2878 (Fig. 4A), 10.0 + 2.2 mm, Ta’ Xbiex (J3), Malta, 15 Aug. 2011, coll. J.J. Bonello and J. Evans; juvenile of unidentified sex, PMR VP2882, 9.4 + 2.3 mm, Mistra, Malta, 28 Jul. 2011, coll. J.J. Bonello and J. Evans; (Figs 1, 4B). One juvenile of unidentified sex, 11.9 + 3.5 mm, PMR VP2778, Kupari, Dubrovnik, southern Adriatic Sea (42°37’10.7’’N; 18°11’28.8’’E), 14 Sep. 2011, coll. M. Kovačić, M. Kirinčić and D. Zanella; 1 juvenile of uniden - tified sex, 10.4 + 2.7 mm, PMR VP2779, beach between Slano and Trsteno, Dubrovnik, southern Adriatic Sea (42°37’10.7’’N; 18°11’28.8’’E), 15 Sep. 2011, coll. M. Kovačić, M. Kirinčić and D. Zanella. (1) Suborbital papillae of lateral-line system without longitudinal row a ; (2) predorsal area naked; (3) transverse suborbital rows 7; 4) pelvic fins forming disc; 5) interorbital papillae absent; (6) scales in lateral series 29-30 (the known species range of scales in lateral series is 29-38, Miller, 1986). Anterior nostril short, tubular, no visible tentacle from inner part of rim. Branchiostegal membrane attached to entire side of isthmus. First dorsal fin VI; second dorsal fin I/11; anal fin I/9; caudal fin with 13 branched rays, 16 segmented rays; pectoral fin 17; pelvic fin I/5+I/5. Uppermost rays of pectoral fin still not free from membrane. Pelvic fins forming disc. Body with ctenoid scales, scales in lateral series 29-30. Head and predorsal area naked. Colour preserved: body yel- lowish brown, brown melanophores on the body arranged in vertical bands, darker and more intensive on anterior part of body, paler posteriorly (Fig. 4A). Vertical bands more visible in the larger PMR VP2878 10.0 + 2.2 mm and less distin- guishable in the smaller PMR VP2882 9.4 + 2.3 mm. Breast and belly pigmented. Head pigmented with brown melano- phores, underside whitish, but with melanophores. Predor- sal area densely pigmented. Dorsal and anal fins pigmented, fin membranes too damaged to determine colouration pat - tern. Caudal fin lightly pigmented, with brown vertical band present on the origin of caudal fin. Pectoral fin pigmented on upper bases of rays, rest of fin colourless . Pectoral fin base pigmented, more intensive dorsally. Pelvic fins colourless. Head with anterior oculoscapular and preopercular canals, with pores σ, λ, κ, ω, α, β, ρ, and γ, δ, ε, respectively. Pos- terior oculoscapular canal still not developed or present only as an open furrow. Rows of sensory papillae: No interor- bital rows. No suborbital row a . Seven transverse suborbital rows. This species was recorded from within cobbles at two sites, Ta Xbiex (J3) and Mistra, both located at the north-east coast of Malta Island. The former site is characterised by a habitat similar to that found at Tigné (H5), described above, and the specimen was collected from a depth of 5 m. The habitat at Mistra consisted of patches of cobbles and pebbles found interspersed with Posidonia oceanica beds at shallow depths of 1-2 m. The presently recorded juveniles are the smallest known specimens of this species. The smallest juvenile (14.5 + 3.7 mm) already having recognisable adult coloura- tion pattern and morphology was reported by Kovačić and Engin (2009), with a photo of the specimen included as their Fig. 2. Contrary to that record, the present juvenile specimens are without posterior oculoscapular head canal or free tips of uppermost pectoral rays and tentacle on the anterior nostrils. In the comparative material of Z. zebrus (10.4 + 2.7 mm, PMR VP2779 and 11.9 + 3.5 mm, PMR VP2778), the poste- rior oculoscapular canal is still not developed in the smaller specimen (10.4 + 2.7 mm, PMR VP2779), but it is visible in the larger one; both specimens have free tips to the upper - most pectoral rays, but both lack the tentacle on the anterior nostrils. The body colouration pattern of the present juvenile specimens with vertical bands resembles the known pattern of adults (Fig. 4A). Nevertheless, to ensure positive species identification of the present juvenile specimens, the follow - ing additional characters were added to the diagnosis to dis- tinguish these specimens from the known Mediterranean gobiid species having anterior oculoscapular and preoper- cular canals present and lacking the posterior oculoscapular canal: pelvic fins forming disc vs. pelvic fins almost sepa - rate in O. balearica and Vanneaugobius species; interorbital papillae absent vs. interorbital papillae present in M. mac- rocephalus ; 7 transverse suborbital rows vs. 6 transverse suborbital rows in Didogobius schlieweni and D. splechtnai ; scales in lateral series 29-30 in the present material vs. scales in lateral series more than 41 for Chromogobius zebratus and more than 56 for C. quadrivittatus . Z. zebrus is a small cryptobenthic goby widespread in the Mediterranean and also recorded in the Black Sea (Kovačić et al. , 2012). The present record of Z. zebrus from Malta connects the previ- ously known distributions of this species in Western and Eastern Mediterranean (Fig. 4B). Mediterranean gobies have high species diversity (Quig - nard and Tomasini, 2000; Kovačić and Patzner, 2011). How - ever, significant proportions of these fish species are of small size, and many gobies are exclusively or predominantly of cryptobenthic occurrence. Thus many of them are still poorly known and, until recently, considered to be extremely rare (Patzner, 1999; Kovačić and Patzner, 2011). G. couchi was for the first time recorded in the Mediterranean in 1999 (Ste - fanni and Mazzoldi, 1999) and the known number of records of this species and M. macrocephalus is still limited (Figs 2B, 3C). The collection of small cryptobenthic fishes requires special methods, differing from the usual collecting gear for marine fishes. The use of SCUBA diving combined with use of anaesthetic, handnets, suction samplers and careful checks of small hidden habitats should be suitable to collect these fishes (Patzner, 1999). The methods used in the study on infralittoral cobble beds fauna of the present research enabled this collection of very small juvenile gobies, some of them just 10 mm long, in cryptobenthic habitats. Since the morphology of gobiid juveniles can differ great- ly from that of the adult stages (Kovačić, 2004), gobiid iden - tification keys that make use of adult characters are not appli - cable to specimens that have not yet reached a certain size or developmental stage. This issue was not discussed in the iden- tification key for European marine gobies by Miller (1986), but it was noticed as a problem in the identification key for Adriatic gobies by Kovačić (2008). Kovačić (2008) stated that his key could be used to identify adults of both sexes as well as late juveniles of all Adriatic gobiid species, but not the early juveniles that have not yet completely developed the characters used in the key. In addition, no published keys or diagnoses exist for the early juveniles of European marine gobies (Kovačić, 2004). Papers with published descriptions or illustrations of early juveniles of European marine gobiid species are rare (summarized in Kovačić, 2004; Monteiro et al. , 2008). These data, restricted to a few common species, cannot be used for identification of early juveniles of numer - ous European marine gobiid species. Published keys and diagnostic characters for larvae (Lebour, 1919; Borges et al. , 2003) are also restricted to a limited number of species, and make use of a combination of vertebral and fin counts and larval pigmentation which are not applicable to juveniles. Therefore, even in gobiid species where larvae can be identi- fied, an identification gap exists at the early juvenile stages. To confirm morphological results, Monteiro et al. (2008) and Šanda and Kovačić (2009) validated the identification of early stages by comparison of DNA sequences with the sequences of positively identified adults. The present findings with the small ( G. couchi ) or even the smallest known specimens for studied species ( M. macro- cephalus , Z. zebrus ) offered the chance to check the morphol- ogy and identification methods at these specimen lengths. In the case of G. couchi , the present specimen showed that juveniles at standard length of ...
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... A quite rare Atlantic-Mediterranean species. It was recorded near the shores of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as in the northern part of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Aegean Sea (Miller & El-Tawin 1974;Minchin 1988;Costello 1992;Kovačić et al. 2013). The species did not occur in the Black Sea until recently, when it was found in Kozacha and Karantinna Coves of Sevastopol Bay ). ...
... (Fig. 3d) An endemic Mediterranean cryptobenthic species that is included in the Israeli Mediterranean fish checklist (Golani, 2021), but was only documented once in 1959 (voucher at the National Collection of Natural History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem -HUJF 7798). Several haphazard records of this species confirm its rarity also in Turkey (Bogorodsky et al., 2010), Italy (Giacobbe et al., 2016) and Malta (Kovačić et al., 2013). In August 2019, we sampled four larvae and a single egg of M. macrocephalus in a coastal northern Israeli marine protected area, thus confirming its presence in Israeli waters for the first time in more than 60 years. ...
... Knowledge of the indigenous marine fish fauna of the Maltese Islands has improved in recent years, especially following new investigations of previously poorly known habitats such as cobble habitats, marine caves, and deep-sea habitats (e.g., Kovačić et al. 2013;Castriota and Deidun 2014;Evans et al. 2016;Kovačić and Schembri 2019;Tsagarakis et al. 2021). Surveys made in 2015 and 2016 during the LIFE BaĦAR for N2K project (https://lifebahar.org.mt) ...
The occurrence of three bony ray-finned fishes, Thorogobius ephippiatus (Lowe, 1839), Chlopsis bicolor Rafinesque, 1810, and Grammonus ater (Risso, 1810) is reported for the first time in the scientific literature from Maltese coastal waters. The leopard-spotted goby, T. ephippiatus , was mostly recorded within the 8–32 m depth range on soft sediment and rocky bottoms within caves, but one individual was recorded on a rocky bottom with a thin layer of silt at a depth of 117 m where no cave was present. The bicolour eel, C. bicolor , was recorded within the 318–518 m depth range on rocky bottoms covered with a thin layer of muddy-detritic sediment; and the cusk-eel G. ater was recorded at a depth of 10 m within a cave. Notes on these three species as well as on another bony fish, the Azores rockling, Gaidropsarus granti (Regan, 1903), including new information on their bathymetric range and habitat association, are presented.
... Yet, it is known only from the northern part of the southern Adriatic in Montenegro, the northern part of the Ionian Sea, and from two geographically distant localities on the Greek Aegean coast ( fig. 4, supplementary table S1). It is possible that some previously published records of Z. zebrus from the northern (e.g., Kovačić, 2005;Kovačić & Engin, 2009;Bogorodsky et al., 2010;Kovačić et al., 2012Kovačić et al., , 2013Engin et al., 2018b;Kesici & Dalyan, 2019) or western (reviewed in Kovačić et al., 2013) Mediterranean could in fact refer to Z. pallaoroi sp. nov, as both species of the genus could co-occur in the same area, as observed in the southern Adriatic. ...
... Yet, it is known only from the northern part of the southern Adriatic in Montenegro, the northern part of the Ionian Sea, and from two geographically distant localities on the Greek Aegean coast ( fig. 4, supplementary table S1). It is possible that some previously published records of Z. zebrus from the northern (e.g., Kovačić, 2005;Kovačić & Engin, 2009;Bogorodsky et al., 2010;Kovačić et al., 2012Kovačić et al., , 2013Engin et al., 2018b;Kesici & Dalyan, 2019) or western (reviewed in Kovačić et al., 2013) Mediterranean could in fact refer to Z. pallaoroi sp. nov, as both species of the genus could co-occur in the same area, as observed in the southern Adriatic. ...
... Apart from the new species description, material in this study provides additional data on the distribution of species within the Zebrus/Millerigobius clade. The Z. zebrus specimen from Faro, Portugal (table S1), represents the westernmost record of this species ( fig. 4), which occurs in the Mediterranean and Black seas (see the map of reviewed records in Kovačić et al., 2013), and was so far reported also from the Atlantic coast of southern Spain up to Huelva (Nieto & Alberto, 1992). All records by Nieto and Alberto (1992) were from tidal pools, whereas the specimen from Faro was collected during a dive over rocky habitat in an otherwise sandy bottom area, several km offshore at a depth of 14 m. ...
The gobies (Gobiidae) are the most diverse fish family in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, knowledge on their diversity, taxonomy, and phylogenetic relationships is still inadequate. The phylogenetic analyses reveal two genetically highly distinct clades among specimens identified as Zebrus zebrus . A new species, Zebrus pallaoroi sp. nov., is described based on an integrative approach. The neotype of Zebrus zebrus is designated. Genetic data confirm a pronounced level of divergence between Z. pallaoroi and Z. zebrus , with the mean genetic distance on cytochrome b being 18.1% and 1.07% on rhodopsin. Phylogenetic relationships within the Gobius -lineage were estimated on both markers. Morphologically, Z. pallaoroi is distinguished from the only congener Z. zebrus by having a snout longer than its eye, posterior nostril about 4/5–9/10 of the anterior nostril, eye diameter 4.3−4.7 in head length, ventrolateral head ridges transversally connected on the anterior side by a short transversal ridge, anterior membrane midline depth about 2/3 of the spinous ray, head canal pore α diameter about half of the distance between pore ρ and ρ 1 , suborbital sensory papillae row 5i going downwards to or near the level of row d , the distance between row 5i and row d absent or much smaller than the length of row 5i , and the body with ten to eleven vertical dark brown bands. Zebrus pallaoroi was recorded from the southern Adriatic, northern Ionian, and northern and western Aegean Seas, and is a cryptobenthic fish from very shallow waters.
... A quite rare Atlantic-Mediterranean species. It was recorded near the shores of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as in the northern part of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Aegean Sea (Miller & El-Tawin 1974;Minchin 1988;Costello 1992;Kovačić et al. 2013). The species did not occur in the Black Sea until recently, when it was found in Kozacha and Karantinna Coves of Sevastopol Bay . ...
The paper is devoted to alien fish species that have appeared in coastal waters of the Black Sea near Crimea for the past 50 years. The fish fauna of the Black Sea mainly comprises species that represent the Ponto-Caspian and Atlantic-Mediterranean faunal complexes. According to the generalised literature data, 158 fish species of 107 genera of 60 families have been recorded in the Black Sea since the publication of K. F. Kessler’s work (Kessler 1877), all of them representing the Atlantic-Mediterranean complex. In waters of Crimea, 116 species of 86 genera of 51 families have been recorded for the same period. A full checklist of fishes of this complex is presented indicating 31 alien species that have appeared since the 1970s and which belong to 27 genera and 16 families. In waters of Crimea, alien fishes make up 26.5 % of all species, 31.0 % of all genera, and 31.4 % of all families of the Atlantic-Medirranean complex. According to the level of their occurrence in marine waters of Crimea, all recently introduced species are grouped into three categories: regular, sporadic, and casual. Their brief characterisics are given, including synonymy, representation in the fish collection of the NMNH NASU, brief description, distribution, and vector of introduction. It was found that benthic species predominate among introduced fishes that occur regularly in waters of Crimea (12 species, or 80.0 %), while bentho-pelagic and pelagic species are less represented (6.7 % and 13.3 %, respectively). Pelagic and bentho-pelagic species prevail (50.0 % and 37.5 %, respectively) among fishes that occur sporadically. Bentho-pelagic species predominate (57.1 %) among fishes that occur casually. It was discovered that among the 31 alien fishes recorded in the Black Sea waters of Crimea for the past 50 years predominate those that have appeared here due to the natural process of mediterranisation (22 species, 71.0 %). It was imposibble to determine the vector of introduction of 4 species (12.9 %). The appearance of 5 species, which represent 16.1 % of all alien species, is related to anthropogenic factors. It can be also concluded that benthic species predominate among the alien fishes (14 species, or 45.2 %), while bentho-pelagic (9 species) and pelagic (8 species) fishes make up 29.0 % and 25.8 %, respectively. Of the 31 introduced fishes, 10 (32.2 %) have naturalised and acclimatised in marine waters of Crimea and have founded independent breeding populations. Among them, representatives of the family Gobiidae notably prevail, followed by the taxonomically close family Oxudercidae, whereas one species belongs to the family Blenniidae. The so-iuy mullet, which is the only representative of the pelagic ecological group, was introduced intentionally.
... No specific works on the clingfish diversity in Maltese waters have been published up until now, and Cilia (1990) and Kovačić et al. (2013) are the only specific works on gobies from the area. ...
Twelve new first records of species from two families are added to the list of known marine fishes from Malta based on laboratory study of material collected during fieldwork over a period of more than twenty years. The three new records of clingfishes (Apletodon incognitus, Gouania wildenowi, Opeatogenys gracilis) double the known diversity of Gobiesocidae for the area; the nine new records of gobies (Chromogobius zebratus, Gobius ater, Gobius fallax, Gobius gasteveni, Gobius roulei, Lebetus guilleti, Odondebuenia balearica, Speleogobius llorisi, Vanneaugobius dollfusi) increase by almost a half the known diversity of Maltese Gobiidae. The most enigmatic species reported is G. ater, for which the most recent published record is two decades old and based on specimens that had actually been collected back in the 19th century. Checklists of the Gobiesocidae and Gobiidae of Maltese waters are presented. Biodiversity and biogeographic implications of the present findings are discussed.
... Based on the shape of urogenital papillae, the holotype could be late juvenile to subadult female or even adult female if species has less prominent urogenital papilla. In this stages the final gobiid squamation is formed and visible, furthermore continuous scales along lateral midline are already present in gobies of similar size even in small juvenile of unidentified sex (Kovačić et al. 2013). However, in one particular case of gobiid species with semi-reduced squamation the intraspecific variability of area covered by scales was recorded among adults (Kovačić 2005). ...
Two new species of the gobiid genus Hetereleotris, H. aurantiaca sp. nov. and H. semisquamata sp. nov., are described from the Red Sea, the former from Saudi Arabia at Jeddah from the cave at depth of 14-16 m, and the latter from the southern Egypt from reef flat. Hetereleotris aurantiaca sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by having dorsal-fin rays VI + I,10; anal-fin rays I,9; pectoral-fin rays 14, all rays branched; pelvic-fin rays I,5, the fin separated and without frenum, 5 th ray unbranched; anterior nostril with a long tube without process from the rim, posterior nostril a pore with erected rim; no tentacle above eye; posterior angle of jaws extending posteriorly to below posterior edge of pupil; no opercular spine; no mental frenum; pelvic fins longer than pectoral fins; squamation reduced to a few scales on caudal peduncle at caudal-fin base; no head canals; by presence, size and pattern of suborbital rows of sensory papillae; and orange head and yellowish orange body with five faint brown bars. Hetereleotris semisquamata sp. nov. is distinctive among its congeners by unique scale pattern (scales cycloid, the squamation reduced, tapering from caudal-fin base along lateral midline towards pectoral fin where nearly reaching its base) and by coloration (head and body whitish, with brown line from eye to end of upper lip, dark brown band across interorbital area and continuing obliquely from eye to corner of opercle, broad dark brown band below first dorsal fin continuing into fin, and moderately broad dark brown bar on caudal-fin base). Furthermore, it is characterized in having dorsal-fin rays VI + I,11, anal-fin rays I,10, pectoral-fin rays 16, and absence of head canals. In addition to descriptions of two species, a key to all species of Hetereleotris is provided. Hetereleotris psammophila is reported outside the Gulf of Aqaba for the first time.
... One result of this monitoring was finding one more gobiid species new for the Black Sea in the Sevastopol coves: Couch's goby Gobius couchi Miller et El-Tawil, 1974. This species was known by innumerous findings near the Atlantic coasts of England and Ireland, in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, and in the southern part of Dardanelles Strait at the exit to the Aegean Sea (Kovačić et al., 2013). Despite numerous recent catches of this species in the Mediterranean Sea, the traits of Couch's goby biology are hardly studied yet and the scarce available data concern only characteristics of size and specific features of the habitats. ...
... In the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean basin, Couch's goby was found mainly at the habitats with sandy grounds and overgrowths of sea grasses (Stefanni and Mazzoldi, 1999;Liu et al., 2009;Özen et al., 2009;Kovačić et al., 2011) as well as at the sandy grounds alternating with exposed rocks or screes of pebbles, stones, and boulders (Miller, 1986;Kovačić, 2001;Kovačić et al., 2013). The features of bottom geomorphology in the Kazach'ya and Karantinnaya (Sevastopol) where this species was found are similar. ...
Couch’s goby Gobius couchi was found for the first time off the southwestern coast of Crimea, in the coves of Sevastopol. Earlier, this goby was not noted in the Black Sea; its range included the Atlantic coasts of England and Ireland and the northeastern part of Mediterranean and Aegean seas. The present paper provides the description of the morphological characteristics of Couch’s goby, including the diagnostic features, the data on its distribution near the Crimean coasts, and some features of ecology and behavior. The data on fecundity and time of reproduction of this goby are presented for the first time. It is suggested that the appearance of Couch’s goby near the Crimean coasts is determined by the process of “Mediterranization” of the Black Sea.
... nov., B. massutii and Balearic population of B. affinis share variable degrees of incomplete head canals contrary to eastern records of B. affinis and contrary to B. jeffreysii, both with completely closed head canals. Although the closure of head canals in gobies usually happens during ontogeny in early juvenile stages ( Kovačić et al. 2013, Kovačić unpublished data), the modification and loss of their head canals is a common phenomenon, sometimes observed within a species across habitat ecotones (Stelbrink & Freyhof 2006). This suggests that retention of semiclosed canals in Buenia affinis, B. massutii and B. lombartei sp. ...
A new gobiid species, Buenia lombartei sp. nov. (Teleostei: Gobiidae) is described from the continental slope off the
Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean. The Atlantic species Buenia jeffreysii (Günther, 1867) is redescribed and the first
record of Buenia affinis Iljin, 1930 is reported for the islands. A key for the species of genus Buenia is provided. The new
species can be distinguished from congeneric species by morphological characters: anterior oculoscapular canal semiclosed
with pores σ, λ, κ, α, ρ and additional pores and open furrows; suborbital row c of 6 papillae; anal fin I/7-I/8; scales
in lateral series 25-27; scales in transverse series 6; pectoral fin rays 18; the second spine of the first dorsal fin longest,
backwards reaching to middle second dorsal fin in males when folded down; pelvic fin anterior membrane reduced to less
than one sixth of spinous ray in midline depth; tongue well developed and bilobed and several morphometric characters.
The new species is also characterized by its reduced colouration and unique depth range and occurrence on upper slope
muddy bottoms. Contrary to this, only a small number of gobiid species in the Mediterranean reach beyond the circalittoral
to the deep shelf, and just a few have records below the shelf break. Phylogenetic analysis of their mitochondrial COI sequence
grouped the two specimens within the same clade as B. jeffreysii, but one apomorphic transversion diagnoses the
B. lombartei subclade. A hypothesis about rapid speciation of B. lombartei as well as alternative hypotheses are discussed.
During the Last Glacial Maximum, boreal fish species such as cold-water adapted gadids, now restricted to northwestern
Europe, entered the Mediterranean. This may have also been the case of the boreal population of B. jeffreysii. At the end
of the glacial period, increasingly warming Mediterranean waters might restricted B. jeffreysii to deeper coldwater mud
habitats of the upper slope, where it finally adapted to bathyal conditions.
... Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatović, 1891) is a Mediterranean endemic species that has mostly been recorded in the eastern basins (Adriatic, Aegean, and Levantine) (Bath 1973, Miller 1977, Bogorodsky et al. 2010, and less frequently in the central-occidental areas (Ramos-Esplà and Perèz Ruzafa 1987, Bouchereau and Tomasini 1989, Bouchereau 2002, Kovačić et al. 2013. Its introduction to the Black Sea has recently been documented (Boltačëv et al. 2010). ...
Two confined populations of an inadequately known gobiid, Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatović, 1891), new species for Italy, have been reported for the protected areas of “Capo Peloro Lagoon” and “Marinello Lakes”, NE Sicily. The specimens found were described and illustrated. Additional data were provided on the habitat preferences of this fish species. The authors emphasize the need for biodiversity inventories of inadequately studied Mediterranean lagoons.
