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Pleurosicya bilobata (Koumans, 1941), new record for the Red Sea Bilobed Ghostgoby Figure 2 Cottogobius bilobatus Koumans, 1941: 253. Type locality: Muthivaratu Paar, India; lectotype: USNM 203588. This species is the type species of the genus Cottogobius Koumans, 1941 which is a junior synonym of Pleurosicya Weber, 1913 (Larson 1990). Distinctive characters (following Koumans 1941, pp. 253–254 and Larson 2022, p. 122). Pectoral-fin rays 16– 19 (usually 17–18); midline of nape and side of nape naked; gill opening broad, extending forward usually to a vertical at posterior edge of eye; tip of tongue bilobed; translucent green to greenish brown, with indistinct brown to yellowish brown bars on body and bands on head; males with a black spot posteriorly on second dorsal fin. Description (following Koumans 1941 and Larson 2022). Small fish, less than 30 mm in total length. Body elongate and compressed. Head depressed. Mouth terminal. Maxilla extending to below anterior margin of pupil. Upper and lower jaws with bands of small teeth, outer enlarged; inner lateral teeth in lower jaw enlarged, two pairs of them are canine-shaped. Tip of tongue bilobate. Vomer with a considerable protuberance. Gill opening extending to a vertical at posterior edge of eye. Fins: Dorsal-fin rays VI + I,7–8; anal-fin rays I,7–8 (given in the description of the genus); pectoral-fin rays 16–19, lower 3–7 rays unbranched and thickened distally. Pelvic-fin rays I,5, pelvic fins united, cup-shaped. Frenum well developed, laterally with a rounded lobe. Fleshy lobes at each side of the frenum. Scales: ctenoid, 26–27 (23–29 sensu Larson (2022)) in longitudinal series along the body, 6–7 transverse rows. Scales on side of body extending forward to above pectoral-fin base, side of breast usually scaled, mid predorsal and side of nape naked. Colour (alive, based on original photos). Translucent green (Fig. 2A) to greenish brown (Fig. 2B), with indistinct irregular brown bars on body, except on belly and breast; a brown band on head from front of the eye to upper lip; eyes golden-brownish with a red ring around the eye pupil; males with a black spot posteriorly on the second dorsal fin. Distribution and Habitat. Pleurosicya bilobata is widely distributed from the Red Sea, Mauritius (Cargados Carajos Shoals), India and Comoros Islands (e.g., ROM 60051) in Western Indian Ocean, in the western Pacific east to Australia (New South Wales), Japan (Ryukyu Islands), and Mariana Islands. It generally lives on seagrass, at depths of 8–30 m (Larson 1990). Remarks. Two photographed individuals match the description of P. bilobata (Larson 1990). We herein report the finding of this species in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, a new record for the Red Sea. This report is based solely on underwater photographs taken from Mashraba Bay at Dahab, Gulf of Aqaba (Fig. 2A & B). Both individuals were found in the seagrass area at depths of 8– 12 m., Published as part of Goren, Menachem, Bogorodsky, Sergey V. & B-S, Shevy, 2023, How many valid Pleurosicya (Teleostei: Gobiidae) species are known from the Red Sea?, pp. 113-129 in Zootaxa 5258 (1) on page 120, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7773375, {"references":["Koumans, F. P. (1941) Gobioid fishes of India. Memoirs of the Indian Museum, 13 (3), 205 - 329.","Larson, H. K. (1990) A revision of the commensal gobiid fish genera Pleurosicya and Luposicya (Gobiidae), with descriptions of eight new species of Pleurosicya and discussion of related genera. Beagle: Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, 7 (1), 1 - 53. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / p. 262791","Larson, H. K. (2022) Suborder Gobioidei. In: Heemstra, P. C., Heemstra, E., Ebert, D. A., Holleman, W. & Randall, J. E. (Eds.), Coastal fishes of the Western Indian Ocean. Vol. 5. South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Makhanda, pp. 18 - 202."]}

Pleurosicya plicata Larson, 1990 Folded Ghostgoby Figure 8 Pleurosicya plicata Larson, 1990: 41 (type locality: Salomon Atoll, Chagos Archipelago; holotype: ROM 58031)— Bogorodsky et al. 2010: 123 (southern Egypt); Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 48 (listed); Golani & Fricke 2018: 159 (listed). Distinctive characters (following Bogorodsky et al. 2010). Pectoral-fin rays 15–18 (usually 16); midline of nape and side of nape naked, scales on side of body not extending forward to pectoral-fin base; gill opening extending forward to below preopercular margin; tip of tongue trilobed; pelvic fins with spine lobes usually long, thin, and folded inward; translucent, with a series of alternating orange-brown and bluish dashes along vertebral column, three elongate orange-brown spots internally on upper part of abdomen, and a W-shaped reddish mark on nape, with all orange-brown and reddish markings containing dark brown dots; a short oblique brownish orange band before pectoral-fin base (Bogorodsky et al. 2010). Distribution and Habitat. Ranges from the Red Sea, Mauritius and Chagos Archipelago, east to Papua New Guinea and Caroline Islands (Larson 1990; Bogorodsky et al. 2010). Lives on hard corals of the genera Favia and Goniastrea near soft corals of the family Nephtheidae in sheltered lagoons, at depths of 1–30 m; quickly retreats to soft corals when alarmed. Remarks. There are no additional records since the single record from a large lagoon at Shams Alam, in the southern Red Sea (Bogorodsky et al. 2010). The specimen from Egypt differs in having a W-shaped mark on the nape. Further studies of the Red Sea population are needed., Published as part of Goren, Menachem, Bogorodsky, Sergey V. & B-S, Shevy, 2023, How many valid Pleurosicya (Teleostei: Gobiidae) species are known from the Red Sea?, pp. 113-129 in Zootaxa 5258 (1) on page 126, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7773375, {"references":["Larson, H. K. (1990) A revision of the commensal gobiid fish genera Pleurosicya and Luposicya (Gobiidae), with descriptions of eight new species of Pleurosicya and discussion of related genera. Beagle: Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, 7 (1), 1 - 53. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / p. 262791","Bogorodsky, S., Kovacic, M. & Larson, H. K. (2010) The first records of foUr gobies (Pisces: Gobiidae) in the Red Sea. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology, 16 (3), 117 - 128.","Golani, D. & Bogorodsky, S. V. (2010) The fishes of the Red Sea-reappraisal and updated checklist. Zootaxa, 2463 (1), 1 - 135. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 2463.1.1","Golani, D. & Fricke, R. (2018) Checklist of the Red Sea fishes with delineation of the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, endemism and Lessepsian migrants. Zootaxa, 4509 (1), 1 - 215. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4509.1. 1"]}

Pleurosicya prognatha Goren, 1984 Beaked Ghostgoby Figure 9 Pleurosicya prognatha Goren, 1984: 76 (type locality: Marsa Barecha, southern Sinai Peninsula; holotype: TAU 6478)— Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 48 (listed); Golani & Fricke 2018: 159 (listed). Distinctive characters (based on Goren, 1984, on reexamination of type material and on a photograph). Pectoralfin rays 14–16 (usually 15); midline of nape and side of nape naked, scales on side of body not extending forward to pectoral-fin base (with the exception of the holotype); gill opening extending forward to below base of pectoral fin; tip of tongue rounded; front of upper lip thick, protruding, the tip pointed and downturned over front of mouth, giving beak-like appearance and bearing tiny teeth. Body translucent light green, becoming blue ventrally on head and chest, body densely speckled with dark brown-orange and black dots; an internal white band visible along anterior half of vertebral column; head with scattered small orange spots below eye; both dorsal and anal fins with dark dots, mainly basally. Distribution and Habitat. Known from the Red Sea and Djibouti in the Western Indian Ocean, also reported from the Andaman Sea, Western Australia, and eastern Australia (Great Barrier Reef) (Larson 1990). Found on branches of corals of the genus Acropora, at depths of 1– 20 m. One coral colony may harbor a social group of this species, from juveniles to adults. Remarks. The species is widespread but known from disjunct localities. Only specimens from the type locality (Red Sea) were available for the phylogenetic analysis. Specimens from the eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific are needed for comparative genetic analysis., Published as part of Goren, Menachem, Bogorodsky, Sergey V. & B-S, Shevy, 2023, How many valid Pleurosicya (Teleostei: Gobiidae) species are known from the Red Sea?, pp. 113-129 in Zootaxa 5258 (1) on pages 126-127, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7773375, {"references":["Goren, M. (1984) Three new species and two new records for the Red Sea of invertebrate associated gobies (Gobiidae, Pisces). Cybium, 8 (1), 71 - 82.","Golani, D. & Bogorodsky, S. V. (2010) The fishes of the Red Sea-reappraisal and updated checklist. Zootaxa, 2463 (1), 1 - 135. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 2463.1.1","Golani, D. & Fricke, R. (2018) Checklist of the Red Sea fishes with delineation of the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, endemism and Lessepsian migrants. Zootaxa, 4509 (1), 1 - 215. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4509.1. 1","Larson, H. K. (1990) A revision of the commensal gobiid fish genera Pleurosicya and Luposicya (Gobiidae), with descriptions of eight new species of Pleurosicya and discussion of related genera. Beagle: Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, 7 (1), 1 - 53. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / p. 262791"]}

Pleurosicya mossambica Smith, 1959 Mozambique Ghostgoby Figures 3–6, Table 3 Pleurosicya mossambica Smith, 1959: 218, Fig. 37 (type locality: Pinda, Mozambique; holotype: SAIAB 227)— Goren 1984: 72, Figs. 1a–c (Marsa Barecha, southern Sinai Peninsula); Larson 1990: 32 (types of P. sinaia); Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 48 (listed); Debelius 2011: 185 (Dahlak, Eritrea); Fricke et al. 2015: 217, Figs. 1–3 (Israel); Akel & Karachle 2017: 19, Table 2 (Egypt); Golani & Fricke 2018: 159 (listed). Pleurosicya micheli (non Fourmanoir)— Herler & Hilgers 2005: 125, Fig. 17A–C; Herler et al. 2009: 732, Figs. 3 & 4 (Eritrea); Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 48 (listed); Debelius 2011: 185 (Safaga, Egypt); Golani & Fricke 2018: 159 (listed). Pleurosicya sinaia Goren, 1984: 74, Figs. 2a–c (Marsa Barecha, southerm Sinai Peninsula and south of Eilat, Israel)— Akel & Karachle 2017: 19, Table 2 (Egypt). Distinctive characters (based on the specimens listed below). Pectoral-fin rays 16–19 (usually 17); midline of nape naked, scales on side of nape extending forward nearly to eye; gill opening broad, extending forward to or beyond a vertical at posterior edge of eye; tip of tongue rounded; head and body with brownish red stripe ending on caudalfin base and series of alternating brown and white dashes along vertebral column; nape with U-shaped mark; often a diffuse black band on basal half of first dorsal fin. Description (based on examined material). A small fish, standard length usually less than 25 mm. Body elongate and compressed. Mouth terminal. Maxilla extending posteriorly to below anterior margin of eye pupil. Lips thick. Upper and lower jaws with bands of pointed teeth. In upper jaw, outermost 4–6 pairs enlarged, curved backward and visible when mouth is closed. Inner teeth of lower jaw enlarged, two pairs canine-shaped. Tip of tongue rounded. Vomer with a considerable protuberance. Gill opening broad, extending forward to below posterior margin of eye or little beyond. Gill rakers short, 1+1+5. Fins: Dorsal-fin rays VI + I,7–8; anal-fin rays I,7–8; pectoral-fin rays 16–17; pelvic-fin rays I,5. First dorsal fin height is equal to about three-fourths of body depth. Second dorsal fin inserts above anus, its height is equal to body depth (Fig. 3). Pelvic fins fully united, do not reach anus. The fin cup-shaped, with fleshy lobes at each side of the frenum. Pelvic frenum well developed, folded anteriorly to form pocket. Vertebrae count: 25–26. Dorsal pterygiophore formula: 3-221100. Scales: 23–26 ctenoid scales in longitudinal series along the body, 7 transverse rows. Mid predorsal area naked, side of nape scaled, scales nearly reaching to eye. Selected meristic characteristics and proportions presented in Table 3. Cephalic sensory pore system: Anterior nostrils a short tube, closer to upper lip than to eye. Posterior nostrils at midway between eye and upper lip. Anterior interorbital pore above mid eyes. Posterior interorbital pore above posterior margins of eyes, opens backward. Pairs of supraotic and anteriotic pores behind eyes.A pair of intertemporal pores above preopercle. Three preopercular pores (Fig. 4). Colour (alive, Fig. 5, based on original observation). Body translucent gray, with red to brownish red stripe extending from upper lip and continuing behind eye along body, ending on midbase of caudal fin. A longitudinal series of internal short white dashes alternating with longer brown ones visible along vertebral column. Brown dashes much longer than white dashes on anterior half of body. Series of dashes and body stripe separated by a whitish interspace on anterior half of body, meeting below interdorsal space. Side of abdomen within the stripe usually covered with melanophores; nape with red U-shaped mark; iris brownish orange, dorsal half densely pigmented, inner ring white; fins translucent; some individuals with a series of melanophores forming a diffuse blackish band basally in first dorsal fin, more heavily pigmented centrally. Colour (preserved): Body and head yellowish. Patches of small black dots of lower part of the membrane of first dorsal fin. Distribution and Habitat. Ranges from the Red Sea south to Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius, east to Chagos Archipelago and Maldives. Found on coral reefs and adjacent habitats, at depths of 2– 28 m. Commensal on a wide variety of sessile animals, mainly on soft corals of the family Nephtheidae (usually Litophyton arboreum Forsskål, 1775), on massive-growing stony corals of the genera Platygyra, Porites and Echinopora, and sponges (Larson 1990; Herler & Hilgers 2005; present study). Remarks. The present comparison between the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean populations of P. mossambica (including P. sinaia) does not support dividing them into different species despite small differences in mouth width (Fricke et al. 2015), a small but clear genetic divergence (see more details in the molecular results), and minor differences in coloration. Red Sea specimens are either without pigment in the first dorsal fin or have a diffuse black band present on basal part of the fin whereas specimens from the south-western Indian Ocean always have1–4irregular black spots on basal part of the fin (Smith 1959; Fig. 6A–C). Larson (1990) examined specimens from a broad range, from South Africa to Fiji, but did not provide data separately for specimens from the western Indian and western Pacific Oceans. She noted that the species has variable scale patterns on the nape, from unscaled to partly or fully scaled. Specimens of P. mossambica from the Western Indian Ocean (including holotype) and Red Sea are characterised by an absence of scales on the midline of the nape. More specimens from both areas are needed for further comparative analysis including genetic data. Specimens identified as P. mossambica from the western Pacific (Great Barrier Reef) are divergent genetically (Fig. 1), hence the population from the western Pacific is assigned preliminary to an undescribed species. A specimen from Palau (ROM 74851, Fig. 6D) is similar in coloration but additional study is needed to conclude whether specimens from Australia and Palau are conspecific. Herler & Hilgers (2005), who reported the presence of P. micheli in the Red Sea, distinguished P. micheli from P. mossambica by the intensity of pigmentation on first dorsal fin and lower part of trunk, and by their different habitats. They claimed that P. micheli inhabits “massive growing stony corals” while P. mossambica mostly inhabits soft corals. As evident from a series of images (Fig. 5), the type of host is not relevant in the case of P. mossambica. This species has been found in association with various species of both hard and soft corals as well as with sponges. Pleurosicya micheli is very similar to P. mossambica morphologically but differs in details of colouration (based on photos, Fig. 7). The body stripe is directly below a series of alternating long white and short brown-red dashes or an interrupted white line along the vertebral column on the anterior half of the body in P. micheli whereas a series of alternating long brown and short white dashes is separated by a whitish interspace from the body stripe on the anterior half of the body in P. mossambica. In addition, a body stripe extending into basal half of the lower caudalfin lobe is present in P. micheli but the stripe ends on the caudal-fin base in P. mossambica. The iris is red-orange and its dorsal surface black in P. micheli versus iris brownish orange and dorsal half densely pigmented with black dots in P. mossambica. Pleurosicya micheli is known from Indonesia to French Polynesia (Larson 1990) and records from the Indian Ocean are based on misidentification. Randall (1995) reported P. micheli from Oman but illustrated an individual photographed from Papua New Guinea. Coloration of two specimens reproduced in Herler & Hilgers (2005) match color description of P. mossambica, therefore P. micheli is excluded from the fauna of the Red Sea. Material examined: Israel: SMNH-P 6414 (paratype of P. sinaia), 16.8 mm SL, Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba), 29.503313°N, 34.911932°E, 01 October 1976; SMNH-P 9972, 11.7 mm SL, Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba), 29.503313°N, 34.911932°E, 16 July 1988; SMNH-P 10377, 19.8 mm SL, Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba), 29.503313°N, 34.911932°E, 01 November 1992; SMNH-P 15251 (first identified and reported in BOLD as P. micheli), 16.4 mm SL, Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba), 29.503313°N, 34.911932°E, 18 March 2012. Egypt: SMNH-P 6415 (holotype of P. sinaia), Marsa Bareika (southern Sinai Peninsula), 17.7 mm SL, 17.789137°N, 34.218273°E, 16 October 1979; SMNH-P 9017, 2 spec., 17.7 mm SL & 16.0 mm SL, Marsa Bareika (southern Sinai Peninsula), 17.789137°N, 34.218273°E, 01 March 1979. Mauritius: SAIAB 57883, 3 spec., 15.1–17.9 mm SL, Flic en Flac 30m N of Pass, 20.2666664124°S, 57.3666648865°E, 05 May 1995. Seychelles: SAIAB 76388, 3 spec., 14.1–18.7 mm SL, Baie Ternay-center, 04.3831°S, 55.2241°E, 08 May 2005; SAIAB 79084, 16.6 mm SL, Tie Therese, SE side, 04.4048°S, 55.2441°E, 29 April 2005; SAIAB 79325, 19.8 mm SL, south of Pointe L’Escalier (S of Port Launay, at L’Embarcadere), 4.6611°S, 55.397°E, 22April 2005. Mozambique: SAIAB 5438, 16.7 mm SL, Pinda Island, 14.21666622°S, 40.7666664124°E, 23 September 1950; SAIAB 50419, 25.1 mm SL, Penta Malongane, 26.76666641°S, 32.9000015259°E, 04 April 1995; SAIAB 5439, 3 spec., 17.2–19.8 mm SL, Pinda Island, 14.21666622°S, 40.7666664124°E, 07 September 1956; SAIAB 5440, 17.4 mm SL, Pinda Island Reef, 14.21666622°S, 40.7666664124°E, 21 September 1956. South Africa: SAIAB 61190, 14.9 mm SL, Aliwal Shoal, 30.25°S, 30.8166675568°E, 25 November 1999., Published as part of Goren, Menachem, Bogorodsky, Sergey V. & B-S, Shevy, 2023, How many valid Pleurosicya (Teleostei: Gobiidae) species are known from the Red Sea?, pp. 113-129 in Zootaxa 5258 (1) on pages 121-125, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7773375, {"references":["Smith, J. L. B. (1959) Gobioid fishes of the families Gobiidae, Periophthalmidae, Trypauchenidae, Taenioididae and Kraemeriidae of the western Indian Ocean. Ichthyological Bulletin, Department of Ichthyology, Rhodes University, 13, 185 - 225.","Goren, M. (1984) Three new species and two new records for the Red Sea of invertebrate associated gobies (Gobiidae, Pisces). Cybium, 8 (1), 71 - 82.","Larson, H. K. (1990) A revision of the commensal gobiid fish genera Pleurosicya and Luposicya (Gobiidae), with descriptions of eight new species of Pleurosicya and discussion of related genera. Beagle: Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, 7 (1), 1 - 53. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / p. 262791","Golani, D. & Bogorodsky, S. V. (2010) The fishes of the Red Sea-reappraisal and updated checklist. Zootaxa, 2463 (1), 1 - 135. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 2463.1.1","DEBELIUS, H. (2011) Red Sea Reef Guide. Fifth revised Edition. IKAN-Unterwasserarchiv, Frankfurt, 321 pp.","Fricke, R., Golani, D. & Appelbaum-Golani, B. (2015) First record of the toothy goby, Pleurosicya mossambica, from Israel, Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, and status of P. sinaia (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Gobiidae). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 45 (2), 217 - 219. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIP 2015.45.2.14","Akel, E. H. & Karachle, P. K. (2017) The marine ichthyofauna of Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 21 (3), 81 - 116. https: // doi. org / 10.21608 / ejabf. 2017.4130","Golani, D. & Fricke, R. (2018) Checklist of the Red Sea fishes with delineation of the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, endemism and Lessepsian migrants. Zootaxa, 4509 (1), 1 - 215. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4509.1. 1","Herler, J. & Hilgers, H. (2005) A synopsis of coral and coral-rock associated gobies (Pisces: Gobiidae) from the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology, 10 (3), 103 - 132.","Herler, J., Koblmuller, S. & Sturmbauer, C. (2009) Phylogenetic relationships of coral-associated gobies (Teleostei, Gobiidae) from the Red Sea based on mitochondrial DNA data. Marine Biology, 156 (4), 725 - 739. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 00227 - 008 - 1124 - 7","Randall, J. E. (1995) Coastal fishes of Oman. Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd, Bathurst, xvi + 439 pp."]}

Fusigobius humerosus Kovačić, Bogorodsky & Alpermann sp. nov. Red Sea Shoulderspot Sandgoby (Figures 2–5, 6A & C, Table 1) Fusigobius humeralis (non Randall) — Randall 2001: 212 (in part, Red Sea & Gulf of Aden); Ryanskiy 2022: 105, line 2, left (Sharm el Naga, Egypt). Fusigobius longispinus (non Goren) — Lips et al. 2016: 96 (Arta, Djibouti). Fusigobius maximus (non Randall) — Ryanskiy 2022: 105, line 3, left (Sinai). Holotype. SMF 35901 (sample number KAU17-167), male, 28.7 + 8.0 mm, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, northern side of Farasan Island, a small sand patch at wreck, 16°54.789’N, 41°50.494’E, 4–5 m, T.J. Alpermann, S.V. Bogorodsky & M. Sonnewald, 09 February 2017. Paratypes, all from the Red Sea. KAUMM 199, female, 27.6 + 7.9 mm, Saudi Arabia, Al Lith, 20°14.725’N, 040°00.057’E, 8 m, fringing reef, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 19 June 2013; KAUMM 463 (sample number KAU12-91), male, 31.2 + 8.2 mm, Farasan Isl., Mazaghef, 16°35.939’N, 42°20.076’E, 6–8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 19 February 2012; PMR VP5271, 2 females, 25.2 + 6.3, and 25.0 + 6.4 mm and male, 26.4 + 7.3 mm, Saudi Arabia, northern side of Farasan Island, 16°54.789’N, 41°50.494’E, 4–5 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 09 February 2017; PMR VP5272, male, 24.1 + 6.7 mm, Saudi Arabia, Al Lith, 20°07.941’N, 40°05.927’E, 6–8 m, a small isolated coral reef, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 16 November 2014; SMF 35224, female, 23.2 + 6.4 mm, Saudi Arabia, Duba, 27°05’42.32”N, 35°46’42.39”E, 13–15 m, coral block on steep slope of island, coll. S. V. Bogorodsky, 19 June 2013; SMF 35902, female, 22.1 + 6.2 mm, and male, 25.1 + 7.4 mm, Farasan Isl., Abkar I., 16°37.123’N, 041°56.038’E, 7 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 27 February 2012 (used only to study morphological characters in the mouth cavity and gill chamber); SMF 35904 (sample number KAU12-40), female, 28.2 + 7.0 mm, Farasan Isl., Mazaghef, 16°35.939’N, 42°20.076’E, 6–8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 19 February 2012; SMF 35905, female, 20.9 + 5.7 mm, Farasan Isl., 16°54.933’N, 041°50.761’E, 7 m, isolated coral block, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 02 April 2011. Non-type material. Red Sea: BPBM 18272, female, 23.5 mm, caudal fin damaged, Gulf of Aqaba, Israel; BPBM 35714, female, 25.6 + 6.9 mm, Hanish group, Yemen; KAUMM 464, 2 males, 24.7 + 7.5 mm and 24.4 + 7.4 mm, and 2 females, 20.9 + 6.5 mm and 18.7 mm + caudal fin damaged, Saudi Arabia, Amaq, 7 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 31 March 2011; KAUMM 465, female, 20.2 + 6.3 mm, Saudi Arabia, Al Lith, 6–9 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 18 November 2014; KAUMM 466 (sample number KAU12-443), male, 26.2 + 7.0 mm, Saudi Arabia, Farasan Arch., 26 February 2012; KAUMM 467 (sample number KAU12-445), female, 26.6 + 7.8 mm, Saudi Arabia, Farasan Arch., 6–8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 26 February 2012; SMF 35207, male, 19.0 + 5.2 mm, Saudi Arabia, Al Khoreybah, 8–12 m, coll. S. V. Bogorodsky, 23 June 2013; SMF 35906, 2 males, 31.5 + 8.9 mm and 23.4 + 7.3 mm, and female, 21.9 + 6.8 mm, Saudi Arabia, Al Lith, 8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 05 March 2012; SMF 35907, female, 22.1 + 6.9 mm, Saudi Arabia, Rabigh, 10 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 08 April 2011; SMF 35908 (sample number KAU12-442), male, 29.8 + 7.8 mm, Saudi Arabia, Farasan Arch., 6-8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 26 February 2012; SMF 35909 (sample number KAU12-444), male, 24.3 + 6.8 mm, Saudi Arabia, Farasan Arch., 6–8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 26 February 2012; SMF 35910 (sample number KAU12-446), female, 27.4 + 7.3 mm, Saudi Arabia, Farasan Arch., 6–8 m, coll. T.J. Alpermann & S. V. Bogorodsky, 26 February 2012. Gulf of Aden: BPBM 35726, male, 28.2 + 8.1 mm, Djibouti. Diagnosis. Dorsal-fin rays VI+I,8–9; anal-fin rays I,8; pectoral-fin rays 17–18; first dorsal-fin spine longest, 1.4–1.6 in head length, 19.9–23.6% SL, subsequent spines progressively shorter; first and second dorsal-fin spines not elongate or filamentous; first dorsal fin slightly higher than second in females, about equal in males; anal-fin spine length 3.4–3.9 in head length; pelvic fins noticeably joined medially by membrane, fifth ray branched, shortest branch of fifth pelvic-fin soft ray 83–94% of longest branch of fourth ray, 18.1-22.1% SL; pelvic frenum present, its width at midline about 1/4–1/5 of pelvic-spine length; body depth 4.4–4.9 in SL; snout short, its length 4.0– 4.9 in head length, 12.4–15.3 in SL; posterior nostril about halfway between orbit and anterior nostril (Fig. 2A); eye diameter 3.0– 3.2 in head length; upper-jaw length 3.3–3.5 in head length; gill openings extending forward to about half of opercle width from posterior edge of preopercle; longitudinal scale series 26–28; head and predorsal area naked, scales on side of nape usually ending just anterior at line between upper pectoral-fin base and origin of first dorsal fin (Fig. 2B) or 1–2 rows of cycloid scales extending forward to above preopercular edge (Fig. 2C); body translucent with numerous small dusky orange-yellow spots on head and body, series of melanophores within and adjacent of each spot; a round black spot smaller than or as large as pupil in humeral region just above base of pectoral fin and equal or slightly larger than pupil a black spot at midbase of caudal fin, covering less than 1/3 height of caudal-fin base; first dorsal fin with oblique dusky line from middle of first spine to anterior base of third spine. Description. Body moderately elongate, body depth 4.4–4.9 in SL, and laterally compressed, width 1.2–1.4 in depth, caudal peduncle narrow, caudal peduncle depth 7.5–9.5 in SL, 2.4–3.2 in head, caudal peduncle length 3.5–3.9 in SL, 1.1–1.2 in head. Head large, length 2.9–3.1 in SL, ventral part and breast broad; head triangular from dorsal view. Head triangular in cross section. Crest or ridge of head absent. Snout moderately short and steep, its length 4.0– 4.9 in head length, 12.4–15.3 in SL. Anterior nostril a nasal tube without process from rim, at level of lower edge of pupil, about equally distant between front of snout at base of upper lip and anterior edge of orbit, reaching to or nearly reaching upper lip. Posterior nostril with a slightly erected rim, dorsoposterior to anterior nostril and about equally distant to orbit and to anterior nostril. Eyes dorsolateral, moderately large, eye diameter is 3.0– 3.2 in head length, orbit projecting slightly above dorsal profile. Interorbital very narrow, 51.3–67.6 in head length. Mouth terminal, oblique. Mouth moderately large, upper jaw 3.3–3.5 in head length, angle of jaws extending posteriorly to between a vertical of anterior edge of eye and of vertical at anterior edge of pupil. Cheek broad. Upper jaw with outer row of long, slender, well-spaced, incurved conical teeth continuing backwards on side of jaw, middle band of small conical teeth in a few irregular rows, narrowing backwards on side of jaw and inner row of slender, strongly incurved, conical teeth of medium size. Lower jaw with 10–12 well-spaced, long, slender, slightly incurved, conical teeth restricted to a front of jaw; a middle band of small conical teeth in a few irregular rows narrowing and decreasing in number of rows backwards on side of jaw, and an inner row of long, slender, curved teeth. Tongue well developed, with anterior edge rounded and anterior part free from floor of mouth. Branchiostegal membranes fused to isthmus, gill openings extending forward to about half of opercle width from posterior edge of preopercle. Gill rakers 1–2 + 6, pseudobranchial filaments 6. Branchiostegal rays 5. Genital papilla of adult males 3/5 of orbit diameter, of adult females 1/5 to 2/5 of orbit diameter. Fins. Dorsal-fin rays VI +I,8–9 (holotype 8, paratypes 8: 2, 9: 7); anal-fin rays I,8; branched caudal-fin rays 12–13 (holotype 12, paratypes 12: 8, 13: 1); upper unbranched caudal-fin rays 7–8 (holotype 8, paratypes 7: 1, 8: 8), posterior 2-3 segmented (holotype 3, paratypes 2: 3, 3: 6); lower unbranched caudal-fin rays 5–7 (holotype 5, paratypes 5: 4, 6: 3, 7: 2), posterior 1–2 segmented (holotype 2, paratypes 1: 2, 2: 7). Pectoral-fin rays 17–18 (holotype 18: 2, paratypes 17: 14, 18: 4), upper 2–5 and lowermost 1–2 unbranched. Pelvic fins I,5+5, I. Origin of first dorsal fin slightly behind upper base of pectoral fin, predorsal distance 2.6–2.9 in SL. First dorsal-fin spine longest, 4.2–5.0 in SL, 1.4–1.6 in head length, first and second dorsal-fin spine not elongate or filamentous in both sexes, second to sixth spine progressively diminishing in length. All spines of first dorsal fin barely reaching origin of second dorsal fin when folded down. Last membrane of first dorsal fin separated from origin of second dorsal fin by a space about equal to space of first membrane of second dorsal fin. Spine of second dorsal fin 1.8–2.0 in head. First dorsal fin slightly higher than second in females, about equal in males, although longest dorsal-fin soft ray longer in males, 1.4–1.6 in head length, than in females, 1.7–1.9 in head. Origin of anal fin between vertical at base of first soft ray and vertical of second soft ray of second dorsal fin, preanal length 1.6–1.7 in SL, anal-fin spine 3.4–3.9 in head length, longest anal-fin soft ray longer in males, 1.4–1.7 in head, than in females, 1.8–2.2 in head. Caudal fin rounded, shorter than head, 1.1–1.3 in head length, 3.5–4.0 in SL. Pectoral fins pointed, middle rays longest, 3.2–3.7 in SL. No free pectoral-fin rays. Pectoral fins extending posteriorly well below origin of second dorsal fin. Pelvic fins joined medially by membrane at least 2/3 of pelvic fin length (membrane connection was broken in specimens so exact extend of connection along fin was not determined, but membrane was still visible on rays from origin up to 2/3 of pelvic fin length) possibly to 9/10 of pelvic fin length (length of fifth pelvic-fin soft ray to tip of shortest branch of fifth 83–94% of length of fourth pelvic-fin soft ray to tip). All pelvic-fin rays including fifth ray branched. Pelvic frenum present, width at midline about 1/4–1/5 of pelvic-spine length. Origin of pelvic fins below base of pectoral fins, prepelvic length 2.8–3.0 in SL, pelvic-fin spine 3.9–5.3 in head, fourth pelvic soft ray longest, 3.9–4.9 in SL, longer in males, 1.2–1.4 in head length, than in females, 1.4–1.6 in head, and reaching to origin of anal fin. Squamation. Body covered with ctenoid scales, cycloid on breast, prepectoral area, above base of pelvic fins and on belly, anterior part of belly naked. Head, including cheek and operculum, and predorsal area naked, scales on side of nape usually ending anterior at line between upper pectoral-fin base and origin of first dorsal fin or 1–2 rows of cycloid scales extending forward to above opercle. No scales on fins except of a few on base of caudal fin, most of which are smaller than scales on body. Longitudinal scale series 26–28 (holotype 26, right side damaged, paratypes 26: 3, 27: 12, 28: 1, right sides of SMF 35904 and KAUMM 463 too damaged for count), transverse scale series 6–7 (holotype 6, paratypes 6: 6, 7: 10, right sides of SMF 35904 and KAUMM 463 too damaged for count); circumpeduncular scales 10–12 (holotype 11, right side damaged, paratypes 10: 1, 11: 5, 12: 3); breast with three scales in longitudinal series and prepectoral area with single vertical row of scales. Cephalic sensory systems (Fig. 3). All three head canals present: anterior oculoscapular canal with pores B’, C (single), D (single), E, F, G, and H’; posterior oculoscapular canal with pores K’ and L’; preopercular canal with pores M’, N, and O’. Anterior oculoscapular head canal with short side branch to pore E below eye. Rows and number of sensory papillae as follows: (1) preorbital: snout with three rows in median preorbital series, superior row r close on inner side to pore B (1–2), inferior row s with two sections, s 1 (1) below pore B, close to nostrils, s 3 (1) above upper lip. Lateral series c in four parts: superior c 2 (2–3) between anterior and posterior nostrils, middle c 1 (1–2) behind and bellow anterior nostril and inferior upper c 2 (1–2) and lower c 1 (2) above upper lip. (2) suborbital: suborbital rows without transverse proliferations and uniserial. Row a (3) longitudinal without transverse proliferation below rear part of eye; row c (4) longitudinal without transverse proliferation below anterior and middle part of eye, more distant from eye than row a, starting anteriorly at about vertical of front border of eye, posteriorly ending before vertical of row a. Two cp as papillae below first papilla of row b, lower papilla nearly below upper one. Longitudinal row b (6–11) below rear border of eye. Longitudinal row d continuous from anteriorly above posterior part of upper lip along cheek posterior nearly to a vertical at rear edge of eye (17–19) or divided in supralabial part and part on cheek (6+3–9+7). (3) preoperculo-mandibular: external row e and internal row i divided into anterior (e: 11–16, i: 6–8), and posterior sections (e: 14–20, i: 6–7); mental row f longitudinal (1–4). (4) oculoscapular: anterior longitudinal row x 1 (7–12) continuous from above pore G to above halfway between pores H’ and K’, posterior row x 2 (1–4) above pore L’; row z (3–5) from behind pore G downwards to behind pore M’, row q (1–3) behind pore H’, row y (1–2) behind L’. Axillary rows as 1 (5–8), as 2 (5–9), as 3 (6–8) not visible in every specimen, la 1 and la 2 absent. (5) opercular: transverse row ot (12-18); superior longitudinal row os (6–11); inferior longitudinal row oi (5–8) anteriorly starts close to row ot. (6) anterior dorsal: transverse row n behind pore E (1); transverse rows o (1) divided from each other; longitudinal row g (3–4) ends posteriorly laterally and slightly behind row o, longitudinal row m (2–3) behind and below of row g; longitudinal row h discontinuous (2+3–3+3) in front of first dorsal fin. Color in life and immediately after death (Fig. 4A & B, Fig. 5). Body translucent in live specimens, slightly murky in fresh specimens, with numerous small dusky orange-yellow spots on head and body, series of melanophores within and adjacent of each spot, spots on head irregularly arranged in oblique rows going posterodorsally and posteriorly. Body covered with small silver or bluish reflective markings. Internal organs well visible, especially in live specimens, gills red and peritoneum silvery; body with an internal series of six horizontally-elongate, dark brown blotches along vertebral column and several, irregularly scattered, oval dark brown blotches in lower part of body. A round black spot smaller than or as large as pupil in humeral region just above base of pectoral fin (Fig. 6A), a second subequal or slightly larger black spot at midbase of caudal fin, barely visible underwater, more apparent in freshly dead material, covers less than 1/3 of caudal-fin base height (Fig. 6C). Seven faint, brown dorsal marks on back, two in front of the first dorsal fin, two more below first dorsal fin, remaining three marks below second dorsal fin, marks extending onto basal part of both fins and more visible in freshly dead material. Upper pectoralfin base with white streak. An oblique blackish bar extending from anteroventral edge of eye across suborbital area ending on upper lip visible in freshly dead specimens but not visible in life. Eyes with uniform brown-orange iris, sometimes suffused with yellow, and green pupil in life, pupil black immediately after death. Sometimes an orange-brown oblique dash starts at the end of jaw extending backwards and up on cheek. Dorsal and caudal fins with orange and yellow dots, except for unspotted ventral one-fourth of caudal fin, the first dorsal fin with variably distinct oblique dusky line from the middle of first spine to anterior base of third spine. Pectoral fins transparent with a white longitudinal stripe at the midline of pectoral-fin base extending into middle of pectoral fin and nearly reaching fin margin. Anal and pelvic fins transparent with snow-white area: origin of anal fin and center of pelvic fin, respectively. Color preserved (Fig. 4C). Body opaque fawn, orange-yellow coloration lost. The pigmented pattern of small spots on head and body brown. A round black spot smaller or as large as pupil in humeral region just above base of pectoral fin (Fig. 6A), a second about equal black spot at midbase of caudal fin, covers less than 1/3 of caudal-fin base height, both well visible to less vivid in some specimens (Fig. 6C). Eyes dark, including pupil. Oblique brown bar from eye to upper lip, parallel oblique brown bar from end of jaw backwards and up onto cheek. Dorsal fins transparent with dark pigmented pattern extending from the base, more intense on the first dorsal fin, a dark lines extends from the origin of the third spine upward to the upper part of the first spine. Anal fin darkly pigmented in males, poorly pigmented in females. Caudal fin, pectoral fins and pelvic fins transparent, poorly pigmented except for the black spot at origin of caudal fin that extends slightly onto caudal rays. Etymology. The species name humerosus in reference to resemblance to the sister F. humeralis. Both species share the presence of a distinct black spot in the humeral area above pectoral-fin base. Distribution and Habitat. At present Fusigobius humerosus is known from the Red Sea, including Gulf of Aqaba, south to the inner Gulf of Aden. Found on sand and rubble near or within coral reefs, at depths of 3– 15 m. Remarks. Fusigobius humerosus differs from all other Fusigobius species by a combination of external morphological characters and coloration, except from F. gracilis and F. humeralis (e.g., Randall 2001, Figs. 1 –18). The new species is compared with each species below by the set of the most useful characters. Comparison is ordered as in diagnosis, the species descriptions may be found in the following publications (Günther 1877; Goren 1978; Hoese & Reader 1985; Winterbottom & Emery 1986; Hoese & Obika 1988; Chen & Shao 1997; Randall 1994, 2001, 2005; Allen & Erdmann 2012; L, Published as part of Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Kovačić, Marcelo, Mal, Ahmad O. & Alpermann, Tilman J., 2023, A new species of Fusigobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, pp. 101-124 in Zootaxa 5256 (2) on pages 106-114, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5256.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7745447, {"references":["Randall, J. E. (2001) Five new Indo-Pacific gobiid fishes of the genus Coryphopterus. Zoological Studies, 40 (3), 206 - 225. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 10228 - 001 - 8111 - z","Ryanskiy, A. (2022) Red Sea marine life. Andrey Ryanskiy publisher, 200 pp.","Lips, J., Lips, B. & Roux, J. - M. (2016) Poissons de Djibouti. Universite de Djibouti, 248 pp.","Gunther, A. (1877) Andrew Garrett's Fische der Sudsee. Band II, Heft. VI. Journal des Museum Godeffroy, 4 (13), 169 - 216.","Goren, M. (1978) A new gobiid genus and seven new species from Sinai coasts (Pisces: Gobiidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica, 59, 191 - 203.","Hoese, D. H. & Reader, S. (1985) A new gobiid fish, Fusigobius duospilus, from the tropical Indo-pacific. Special Publication, J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, 36, 1 - 9.","Winterbottom, R. & Emery, A. R. (1986) Review of the Gobioid fishes of the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean. Royal Ontario Museum Life Science Contributions, 142, 1 - 82. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 52226","Hoese, D. H. & Obika, Y. (1988) A new gobiid fish, Fusigobius signipinnis, from the western tropical Pacific. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, 35, 282 - 288. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / BF 02938428","Chen, I. - S. & Shao, K. - T. (1997) Fusigobius aureus, a new species of gobiid fish (Perciformes, Gobiidae) from Flores Island, Indonesia. Acta Zoologica Taiwanica, 8 (2), 87 - 92.","Randall, J. E. (1994) A new genus and six new gobiid fishes (Perciformes: Gobiidae) from Arabian waters. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 14, 317 - 340.","Randall, J. E. (2005) Reef and shore fishes of the South Pacific: New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands. University of Hawai'i, Hawaii, 707 pp.","Allen, G. R. & Erdmann, M. V. (2012) Reef Fishes of the East Indies, Volume 3. Tropical Reef Research, Perth, pp. 857 - 1260.","Larson, H. K. (2022) Suborder Gobioidei. In: Heemstra, P. C., Heemstra, E., Ebert, D. A., Holleman, W. & Randall, J. E. (Eds.), Coastal fishes of the Western Indian Ocean, volume 5. South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Makhanda, pp. 18 - 202."]}

Thieme, Philipp, Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Alpermann, Tilman J., Whitfield, Alan K., Freitas, Rui, Durand, Jean-Dominique (2022): Contributions to the taxonomy of the mugilid genus Chelon Artedi (Teleostei: Mugilidae), with a major review of the status of C. persicus Senou, Randall & Okiyama, 1995. Zootaxa 5188 (1): 1-42, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5188.1.1

Chelon persicus Senou, Randall & Okiyama, 1995 Persian Mullet Figures 3–6, Tables 2 & 3 Chelon persicus Senou et al., 1995: 235 (species account without designation of type material)— Senou et al. 1996: 72 (Doha fish market, Qatar, Arabian/Persian Gulf; formal species description); Al-Jufaili et al. 2010: 32 (Arabian/Persian Gulf). Liza persicus — Carpenter et al. 1997: 203 (Arabian/Persian Gulf). Planiliza persicus — Eagderi et al. 2019: 87 (Arabian/Persian Gulf). Chelon sp. A — Durand & Borsa 2015: 8 (South Africa). Diagnosis (based on combined data from Senou et al. (1996) and present study). Second dorsal-fin rays 10; anal-fin rays 9–10 (usually 10); scales finely ctenoid, 33–36 in longitudinal series; predorsal scales with a single groove; caudal fin forked; upper lip with unicuspid, tiny, ciliform teeth in one row; ventral edge of preorbital notched at corner of mouth, posterior end of maxilla exposed when mouth closed; tip of pelvic fin is vertical to or behind origin of first dorsal fin; second vertebra with a pair of long, slightly curved, spine-like postzygapophyses; three short and three long unbranched pyloric caeca; pectoral-fin base silvery, without melanophores; reaches 275 mm SL. Material examined. SMF 35897 [sample tissue KAU13-123], 194.2 mm SL, [KAU13-124] 187.8 mm SL, [KAU13-125] 188.9 mm SL, [KAU13-135] 200.7 mm SL, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Al Wajh, lagoon, st 5, 13 June 2013; KAUMM 459 [KAU13-136], 172.0 mm SL, [KAU13-137] 188.4 mm SL, [KAU13-138] 170.5 mm SL, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Al Wajh, lagoon, st 5, 13 June 2013; SMF 35898 [sample tissue KAU13-427], 66.7 mm SL, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Al Wajh, lagoon, st 15, 15 June 2013; Qatar Museum uncat [sample tissue QG17-83], 260 mm SL, Arabian / Persian Gulf, Qatar, off Doha, 03 December 2017; Qatar Museum uncat [sample tissue QG17-115], 275 mm SL, Arabian / Persian Gulf, Qatar, off Doha, 10 December 2017; SAIAB 83180, 106.2 mm SL, Western Indian Ocean, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal Province, Cape Vidal, 15 May 2007. Description (based on material examined). Body relatively elongate, body depth at origin of first dorsal fin 3.4–3.7 in SL and caudal peduncle compressed. Head depth equal to or greater than head width, head length 4.1–4.3 in SL. Snout relatively blunt, subequal to orbit diameter, eye diameter 3.3–4.8 in head length. First dorsal fin with IV spines, second fin with 9–10 (rarely 9) rays. Origin of first dorsal fin closer to base of caudal fin than to tip of snout. Origin of second dorsal fin above first quarter of anal fin. Anal fin with III spines and 10 rays. Pectoral-fin rays 15–17. Tip of pectoral fin not reaching vertical at origin of first dorsal fin and not behind tip of pelvic-fin spine. If laid forward, pectoral fin not reaching anterior edge of eye. Tip of pelvic fin vertical to or behind origin of first dorsal fin. Caudal fin forked. Three supraneurals present and one each positioned between neural spines of vertebrae two and three, four and five, and six and seven. A pair of postero-dorsally elongated, slightly curved, and spine-like postzygapophyses present on second vertebra. Anterior first dorsal fin pterygiophore positioned posterior to neural spine of seventh vertebra. Anterior pterygiophores of second dorsal as well as anal fin positioned anterior to neural and haemal spine of thirteenth vertebra, respectively. Three interdorsal pterygiophores present. Three short and three long unbranched pyloric caeca attached to stomach. Adipose eyelid covers only margins of eye; adipose tissue covers larger area anterior to eye reaching anterior nostril. Preorbital fills space between eye and mouth. Preorbital serrated along antero-ventral to posterior edge starting from above corner of mouth (Fig. 3). Ventral edge of preorbital notched at corner of mouth. Postero-ventral corner of preorbital slightly rounded or truncate and reaching vertical behind anterior edge of eye. Corner of mouth vertical below anterior edge of posterior nostril. Maxilla reaching below corner of mouth, its posterior tip sigmoidal and visible when mouth closed. One row of minute, unicuspid, ciliform teeth present on upper lip. Lower lip with thin edge, directed horizontally forward, and large symphysial knob. Body scales finely ctenoid (Fig. 4), 33–35 scales in longitudinal series. Scales in transverse rows 11–12, predorsal scales to origin of first dorsal fin 11–13, to origin of second dorsal fin 21–23, circumpeduncular scales 16–18 (Table 3). Predorsal scales anterior to first dorsal fin with single groove. Scales on head cycloid and arranged irregularly. Interorbital scales large, decreasing in size posteriorly. Dorsal scales on head forward to, or nearly to, posterior nostrils. Minute scales present on base of all fins, more prominent on the second dorsal, anal, caudal, and pectoral fins; covering approximately proximal third of first and second dorsal fin and anal fin. Two consecutive axillary scales lateral on each side of first dorsal fin, posterior axillary scales reaching behind base of last ray of first dorsal fin. Axillary scales also present lateral to origin of pelvic fin reaching about halfway along pelvic-fin spine. Very small axillary scale present above pectoral fin. ......continued on the next page Fish coloration shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Grey dorsally with greenish tinge, silvery below, without markings but with faint narrow grey stripes along centre of scale rows; pectoral-fin base silvery, without melanophores; caudal fin with narrow posterior black margin. Distribution and habitat. Currently known from scattered localities in the Western Indian Ocean, including the Arabian/Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Mozambique and South Africa (Fig. 2K). This species forms schools in shallow coastal waters, including lagoons and estuaries. Remarks. In the formal description of C. persicus it was noted that both the second dorsal and anal fin usually comprise nine fin rays (Table 3). In the specimens from this study, we counted ten fin rays (only one specimen has nine fin rays in the second dorsal fin). This difference may be due to the general assumption that the last fin ray constitutes one deeply bifurcate ray or double ray. However, osteological studies on mugilids showed that two fin rays with separate bases are present (Ghasemzadeh 2015; Thieme & Moritz 2020). We were also able to observe the separate bases in specimen SMF 35897 [KAU13-125]. The species name was first included in the monograph on coastal fishes of Oman (Randall 1995) accompanied by a species account (without designation of types), and was later formally described by Senou et al. (1996). We follow the former publication and subsequent Catalog of Fishes (Fricke et al. 2022) regarding the date of first mention of C. persicus. Comparisons. Chelon persicus can be distinguished from other Chelon species by the number of scales in the longitudinal series (33–36), while congeners have more than 40 scales except C. dumerili which has 34–39 and C. bandialensis which has 32–33 scales (Fischer et al. 1981; Thomson & Luther 1983; Harrison 2016). Chelon dumerili differs from C. persicus in having multiple grooves on its predorsal scales while C. persicus only has a single groove (Senou et al. 1996). Chelon persicus is externally similar to the sympatric Planiliza macrolepis (Smith, 1846) but differs by scales dorsally on the head reaching forward to posterior nostrils versus scales usually extending beyond anterior nostrils in P. macrolepis. Teeth on the upper lip of C. persicus are tiny and ciliform, usually without a second row, whereas for P. macrolepis the upper lip has an outer row of very small, well-spaced, peg-like teeth and an irregular inner row of small teeth, well separated from the outer row. The pectoral-fin base is whitish and unpigmented in C. persicus but pigmented with melanophores, often with a golden sheen, in P. macrolepis. Internally C. persicus differs from all other Chelon species in having a pair of long, spine-like postzygapophyses on the second vertebrae, instead of a pair of short and hook-like postzygapophyses. Chelon persicus also differs from C. auratus, C. bispinosus, C. labrosus and C. ramada by the presence of short and long pyloric caeca versus pyloric caeca of subequal length in these species., Published as part of Thieme, Philipp, Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Alpermann, Tilman J., Whitfield, Alan K., Freitas, Rui & Durand, Jean-Dominique, 2022, Contributions to the taxonomy of the mugilid genus Chelon Artedi (Teleostei: Mugilidae), with a major review of the status of C. persicus Senou, Randall & Okiyama, 1995, pp. 1-42 in Zootaxa 5188 (1) on pages 10-16, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5188.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7087323, {"references":["Senou, H., Randall, J. E. & Okiyama, M. (1995) Chelon persicus. In: Randall, J. E. (Ed.), Coastal fishes of Oman. Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd Bathurst, Australia, p. 235.","Senou, H., Randall, J. E. & Okiyama, M. (1996) Chelon persicus, a new species of mullet (Perciformes, Mugilidae) from the Persian Gulf. Bulletin of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum (Natural Science), 25, 71 - 78.","Al-Jufaili, S. M., Hermosa, G., Al-Shuaily, S. S. & Al Mujaini, A. (2010) Oman fish biodiversity. Journal of King Abdulaziz University, Marine Science, 21, 3 - 51. https: // doi. org / 10.4197 / Mar. 21 - 1.1","Carpenter, K., Krupp, F., Jones, D. & Zajonz, U. (1997) FAO species identification field guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 293 pp.","Eagderi, S., Fricke, R., Esmaeili, H. R. & Jalili, P. (2019) Annotated checklist of the fishes of the Persian Gulf: Diversity and conservation status. Iranian Journal of Ichthyology, 6, 1 - 171. https: // doi. org / 10.22034 / iji. v 6 i 0.454","Durand, J. - D. & Borsa, P. (2015) Mitochondrial phylogeny of grey mullets (Acanthopterygii: Mugilidae) suggests high proportion of cryptic species. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 338, 266 - 277. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. crvi. 2015.01.007","Ghasemzadeh, J. (2015) Musculoskeletal Anatomy of the Flathead Grey Mullet Mugil cephalus. In: Crosetti, D. & Blaber, S. J. (Eds.), Biology, ecology and culture of grey mullets (Mugilidae). CRC Press Boca Raton, USA, pp. 128 - 164.","Thieme, P. & Moritz, T. (2020) The osteology of the golden grey mullet Liza aurata (Teleostei: Mugiliformes: Mugilidae) including interactive three-dimensional reconstructions. Journal of Fish Biology, 96, 1320 - 1340. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jfb. 14281","Randall, J. E. (1995) Coastal fishes of Oman. Crawford House Publishing Pty Lid Bathurst, Australia, 439 pp.","Fricke, R., Eschmeyer, W. N. & Van der Laan, R. (2022) Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Genera, Species, References. Available from: http: // researcharchive. calacademy. org / research / ichthyology / catalog / fishcatmain. asp (accessed 21 st February 2022)","Fischer, W., Bianchi, G. & Scott, W. B. (1981) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic: fishing area 34 and part of 47 (Vol. 3), 325 pp.","Thomson, J. M. & Luther, C. (1983) Mugilidae. In: Fischer, W. & Bianchi, G. (Eds.), FAO Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes. Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51). Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations Rome, Italy.","Harrison, I. J. (2016) Order Mugiliformes - Mugilidae. In: Carpenter, K. E. & De Angelis, N. (Eds.), FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Eastern Central Atlantic. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, pp. 2077 - 2110."]}

Gobius xoriguer Iglésias, Vukić & Šanda 2021 (Fig. 59)—Kestrel Goby Gobius xoriguer Iglésias, Vukić & Šanda 2021a: 3, type locality: western Mediterranean, France, Corsica, Off Ghisonaccia, Tyrrhenian Sea. Size. Known adult size reaching 6.5 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,14; A I,13; P 18–19. Moderately long body and distinctly large eyes. Snout short (shorter than eye diameter), with moderately steep and rounded profile. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. First dorsal fin higher than second dorsal fin (maybe in mature males only), third spine longest and elongate, interspinous membranes deeply incised. No free pectoral-fin rays detected. Caudal fin rounded. Scales visible on dead specimens from reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges, visibility on live specimens unknown. Freshly dead coloration. Background coloration orange-beige, dark-brown or whitish, with orange markings dorsally, and 7 rectangular, orange midlateral blotches (Fig. 59). Eyes with stripes radiating from the pupil to the orbital rim, including a broad horizontal stripe across the eye. One indistinct orange preorbital bar. Lips unmarked. Cheek and opercle orange, possibly smoked gray in some individuals, with numerous rounded white spots (Fig. 59). On the anterior half of the first dorsal fin, an oblique, smokey gray blotch extending from the distal half of first spine to the base of fourth or fifth. Upper base of pectoral fins with an orange blotch (Iglésias et al. 2021a). Similar species. Gobius gasteveni, G. kolombatovici, Vanneaugobius dollfusi. Habitat. Circalittoral species, recorded from deep coralline beds composed of fixed or unattached red algae, between 62 and 102 m depth (Iglésias et al. 2021a). Geographic distribution. Western Mediterranean, known from only three individuals collected in Corsica, off the French-Spanish continental border, and in the Balearic Island of Menorca (Iglésias et al. 2021a).

Cryptocentrus caeruleopunctatus (Rüppell, 1830) (Fig. 3)— Red Sea Bluespotted Shrimpgoby Gobius caeruleopunctatus Rüppell, 1830: 134; type locality: Red Sea, Eritrea, Massawa. Size. Reaches 13 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,10; A I,9; P 17. Body moderately elongate, the depth about 5 times in standard length. Head subcylindrical, snout short and blunt. Eyes elevated above dorsal profile of head (Fig. 3). Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Spines of first dorsal fin not elongate. Second dorsal fin higher than the first (Fig. 3). Pelvic fins joined medially, reaching anus. Caudal fin rounded, its length about equal to head length (Goren 1979). Body covered with scales; no scales on head, prepelvic area, and pectoral-fin base, but scales poorly or not visible on live specimen photographs (Fig. 3). Live coloration. Grayish brown, grading posteriorly to dark olive-brown with deep red blue-edged spots subequal to pupil size on head, anterior body, and dorsal fins; dorsal half of body with 2 dark spots of about eye size, circled with blue-green dots, one under middle of first dorsal fin and one below fourth or fifth dorsal-fin soft ray; a series of 7 oblique pale lines with blue dots on mid and rear body; head with an irregular dark red bar, edged with blue-green, extending ventrally from eye (Fig. 3). The anal and paired fins olivaceous, with small pale yellowish spots, those on anal fin mainly in 2 rows along base (Fig. 3). Similar species. No similar species in the Mediterranean. Habitat. Silty to coarse sand bottom, generally adjacent to sheltered reefs or seagrass beds, but also in calm seaward areas from depths of 2– 24 m. Shares a burrow with snapping shrimps. Geographic distribution. Restricted to the Red Sea and Gulf of Tadjoura, Djibouti. Reported from the eastern Mediterranean coast of Israel (Rothman & Goren 2015)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 47-48, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Goren, M. (1979) The Gobiinae of the Red Sea (Pisces: Gobiidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica, 60 (1 / 2), 13 - 64.","Rothman, S. B. S. & Goren, M. (2015) First record of the Red Sea shrimp-goby Cryptocentrus caeruleopunctatus in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biodiversity Records, 8 (e 157), 1 - 2. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 1755267215001323"]}

Didogobius splechtnai Ahnelt & Patzner, 1995 (Fig. 14)—Splechtna’s Goby Didogobius splechtnai Ahnelt & Patzner, 1995: 97; type locality: western Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Balearic Islands, Ibiza Island, Near Portinatx. Size. Maximum published size 2.8 cm total length (Ahnelt & Patzner 1995). Morphology. D VI + I,9–10; A I,9; P 13–16 (Ahnelt & Patzner 1995; Francour 2008). Small goby with stocky body, large depressed head and a gently sloping snout. Caudal peduncle deep, almost as deep as body. The first dorsal fin higher than the second, its first spine longest, giving the fin a triangular shape. Caudal fin rounded. Scales visible on body from reticulate pigmentation pattern along scale edges. Live coloration. Body mostly dark brown with 3 moderately broad whitish to pale grayish bars extending onto ventral half of body, the first bar immediately in front of the first dorsal fin and extending onto ventral half of pectoral fins, plus a very thin one at the base of caudal fin (Fig. 14). First dorsal fin colored like adjacent body, with scattered white flecks and streaks, outer membrane between first two spines white (Louisy 2015, Patzner 2021). Similar species. Gammogobius steinitzi. Habitat. Infralittoral to circalittoral species, known from depth of 4– 56 m. Present in small cavities in innermost parts of large marine caves and in small bottom caves and cavities. Mostly found lying on the soft sediment in recesses, ready to dive into a nearby hole or crevice (summarized by Francour 2008). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean, there are records from the northwestern Mediterranean (Ahnelt & Patzner 1995; Francour 2008; Iglésias et al. 2021b), Lampedusa (Stefanni 1999) and Adriatic Sea (Herler & Patzner 2002; Kovačić 2005). A record from Turkey, Aegean Sea (Francour et al. 2007), seems probable but was not substantiated by specimens or photos, later confirmed by Ragkousis et al. (2021) for Aegean Sea., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Ahnelt, H. & Patzner, R. A. (1995) A new species of Didogobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the western Mediterranean. Cybium, 19, 95 - 102.","Francour, P. (2008) First records of Didogobius splechtnai along the French Mediterranean coast and additional comments about D. schlieweni. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 38 (2), 139 - 141. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIP 2008.38.2.09","Louisy, P. (2015) Europe and Mediterranean Marine Fish Identification Guide. 3 rd Edition. Eugen Ulmer Ed., Paris, 512 pp.","Patzner, R. A. (2021) Gobiidae. Available from: http: // www. patzner. sbg. ac. at / Gobiidae / GobiidaeSpecies. htm (accessed 1 October 2021)","Iglesias, S. P., Bariche, M., Beau, F., Berenger, L., Beucher, R., Chabrolle, A., Cottalorda, J. M., Cousin, B., Curd, A., Danet, V., Duhamel, E., Duval, A., Farque, P. A., Goascoz, N., Jadaud, A., Larnaud, P., Le Bouter, M., Le Bras, Y., Le Bris, S., Lombard, L., Louisy, P., Mandine, M., Mas, L., Menut, T., Metral, L., Poussard, P., Quero, J. C., Raybaud, V., Renoult, J. P., Richard, T., Spitz, J., Ternon, Q., Thiriet, P. & Tournier-Broer, R. (2021 b) French Ichthyological Records for 2019. Cybium, 45 (3), 169 - 188. https: // doi. org / 10.26028 / cybium / 2020 - 444 - 001","Herler, J. & Patzner, R. A. (2002) New records of Didogobius splechtnai Ahnelt & Patzner, 1955 (Pisces: Gobiidae) from the Tyrrhenian and northern Adriatic Sea. Cybium, 26, 153 - 155.","Kovacic, M. (2005) An annotated checklist of the family Gobiidae in the Adriatic Sea. Annales, Series Historia Naturalis, 15, 1 - 24.","Ragkousis, M., Digenis, M., Kovacic, M., Katsanevakis, S. & Gerovasileiou, V. (2021) Rarely reported cryptobenthic fish in marine caves of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Marine Science and Engeneering, 9, 557. https: // doi. org / 10.3390 / jmse 9060557"]}

Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatović, 1891) (Fig. 27)—Large-headed Goby Gobius macrocephalus Kolombatović, 1891: 22; type locality: Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Brač Island, Milna. Size. Maximum size about 5 cm total length (Vanhove et al. 2011). Morphology. D VI + I,9–11; A I,9–10; P 14–16. Small goby with stocky body, large head and a short steep snout. Anterior nostril tube long, without tentacle. Caudal peduncle deep, almost as deep as body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first with a more or less rounded edge. Only the tip of upper pectoral fin rays is free from membrane. Caudal fin rounded. Body scaled, predorsal area naked (Miller 1986; Vanhove et al. 2011). Scales more or less visible on body from the reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges (Fig. 27). Live coloration. Body greenish, brownish or dark brown with 6–11 narrow, usually indistinct, pale bars across the sides (Fig. 27a) (Vanhove et al. 2011; Patzner 2021). In unstressed animals in the wild, side of body often more or less uniformly colored or mottled brown (Fig. 27b). When pale markings are visible on the back, they most often coalesce into a highly irregular mediodorsal pale band (most dark markings on the body not reaching to base of dorsal fins). Many small pale dots irregularly arranged, especially on snout, preopercle and cheek. When present, the pale crescent band on head (broad whitish transverse band across anterior nape extending on the sides down to pectoral-fin bases) extends onto the rear part of eyes; it is most often ill-defined (consists of overlapping whitish spots). Often a distinctive and well-defined longitudinal median narrow line on nape and predorsal area, usually formed by a dark dash followed by a white dash, another dark dash, and then a pale line reaching to origin of first dorsal fin (Fig. 27c). First dorsal fin more or less dark, sometimes reddish, with a whitish horizontal band and often a pale distal edge. Similar species. Zebrus zebrus, Zebrus pallaoroi. Habitat. Infralittoral species, known from 1–25 m depth on stones and pebbles near soft bottoms (summarized by Patzner 2021). Also recorded in transition waters, hypersaline or brackish (Vanhove et al. 2011). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean and Black Sea. In the Mediterranean Sea, there are records from Ibiza (Ramos-Espla & Perez-Ruzafa 1987), Cerbère, Gulf of Lion (Duhau et al. 2021), southern Corsica (Bouchereau & Tomasini 1989, Renoult et al. 2021b), Sicily (Giacobbe et al. 2016), Malta (Kovačić et al. 2013), Croatia (Kovačić 2005), Slovenia (Trkov et al. 2019), Greece, Lake Vouliagmeni (Vanhove et al. 2011), Crete (Kovačić et al. 2011), Euboia Island (Kovačić et al. 2021), Turkey, Aegean Sea (Bogorodsky et al. 2010), Cyprus (Kovačić et al. 2021), Israel and Lebanon (Miller 1977). Large-headed goby was also found in Crimea, in the Black Sea (Boltachev et al. 2010)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 70, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Kolombatovic, G. (1891) Glamoci (Gobii) Spljetskog Pomorskog Okruzja Dalmaciji (In Croatian and Italian). Godisnje Izviesce C. K. Velike Realke u Splitu za Skolsku Godinu, Split, 1890 - 1891, 3 - 29.","Vanhove, M. P. M., Kovacic, M., Koutsikos, N. E., Zogaris, S., Vardakas, L. E., Huyse, T. T. & Economou, A. N. (2011) First record of a landlocked population of marine Millerigobius macrocephalus (Perciformes: Gobiidae): Observations from a unique spring-fed karstic lake (Lake Vouliagmeni, Greece) and phylogenetic positioning. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 250, 195 - 204. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. jcz. 2011.03.002","Patzner, R. A. (2021) Gobiidae. Available from: http: // www. patzner. sbg. ac. at / Gobiidae / GobiidaeSpecies. htm (accessed 1 October 2021)","Ramos-Espla, A. A. & Perez-Ruzafa, A. (1987) Presencia de Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatovic, 1891) (Teleostei: Gobiidae) en el Mediterraneo occidental con notas sobre su biologia. Anales de Biologia, 11, 31 - 35.","Duhau, M., Pillon, R. & Louisy, P. (2021) Signalisation de / Record of Millerigobius macrocephalus, 13 December 2021 (obs. 24 June 2021, photo 5924). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.). Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 15 December 2021)","Bouchereau, J. L. & Tomasini, J. A. (1989) Note sur la presence de Chromogobius zebratus (Kolombatovic, 1891) et de Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatovic, 1891) (Teleostei; Percomorphi; Gobioidei; Gobiidae) sur les cotes de Corse, France. Bulletin de la Societe zoologique de France Societe zoologique de France, 114, 106 - 110.","Renoult, J. P., Pillon, R. & Louisy, P. (2021 b) Signalisation de / Record of Millerigobius macrocephalus, 13 December 2021 (obs. 05 July 2020, photo 5910). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.). Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 13 December 2021)","Giacobbe, S., Spinelli, A., De Matteo, S. & Kovacic, M. (2016) First record of the large-headed goby, Millerigobius macrocephalus (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Gobiidae), from Italy. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 46, 49 - 52. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIP 2016.46.1.07","Kovacic, M. (2005) An annotated checklist of the family Gobiidae in the Adriatic Sea. Annales, Series Historia Naturalis, 15, 1 - 24.","Trkov, D., Mavric, B., Orlando-Bonaca, M. & Lipej, L. (2019) Marine cryptobenthic fish fauna of Slovenia (Northern Adriatic Sea). Annales, Series Historia Naturalis, 29 (1), 59 - 72. https: // doi. org / 10.19233 / ASHN. 2019.07","Kovacic, M., Sanda, R., Cekovska, K., T. Soukupova, T. & Vukic, J. (2021) Zebrus pallaoroi sp. nov.: a new species of goby (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) from the Mediterranean Sea with a dna-based phylogenetic analysis of the Gobius - lineage. Contributions to Zoology Advance articles, 90 (3), 285 - 317 https: // doi. org / 10.1163 / 18759866 - bja 10018","Bogorodsky, S., Kovacic, M., Ozen, O. & Bilecenog ˘ lu, M. (2010) Records of two uncommon goby species (Millerigobius macrocephalus, Zebrus zebrus) from the Aegean Sea. Acta Adriatica, 51, 217 - 222.","Miller, P. J. (1977) Gobies from Rhodes and systematic features of Zebrus zebrus (Teleostei: Gobiidae). Zoologicla Journal of Linnean Soc iety, 60, 339 - 362. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.1977. tb 00839. x","Boltachev, A. R., Karpova, E. P. & Machkevskiy, V. K. (2010) The naturalization of Miller's goby Millerigobius macrocephalus (Perciformes, Gobiidae) in the Sevastopol Bay of the Black Sea. Morskoj ekologiceskij zurnal, 9, 32."]}

Coryogalops ocheticus (Norman, 1927) (Fig. 50)—Canal Goby Gobius ocheticus Norman, 1927: 381; type locality: Egypt, Suez Canal. Size. Reaches 7 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,10–11; A I,9–10; P 16–18, the uppermost 2 rays free of membrane. Body moderately elongate, the depth 4.3–5.5 in standard length. Head subcylindrical, with a short rounded snout. The second spine of first dorsal fin longest, with very short filament in males. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Pelvic fins united to form a disc. Caudal fin rounded, shorter than head. Scales ctenoid to below origin of first dorsal fin, cycloid ventrally on abdomen, no scales on head, chest, predorsal and prepectoral areas. Scales visible on dead specimens by reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges, visibility on live specimens unknown. Fresh coloration. Greenish or brownish gray, scale edges dark brown, scales on lower body outlined with orange (Fig. 50); a series of indistinct light brown blotches along back, the first on nape, ending at origin of first dorsal fin; side of body with a series of 7 indistinct blackish blotches; head with three blackish spots or double spots below eye, side of head with irregular small orange spots; first dorsal fin with 2 or 3 curved oblique crossbands; pectoral fins with 2 blackish spots at base; pelvic fins blackish (visible also on Fig. 50). Similar species. Millerigobius macrocephalus, Zebrus zebrus, Zebrus pallaoroi. Habitat. Inhabits shallow water, isolated hard substrate but found occasionally on sand bottom (Goren 1985). Geographic distribution. Reported from the Red Sea: Egypt (Suez Canal, Gulf of Suez, and Ras Muhammad), Saudi Arabia (Ras Hatiba) and Eritrea (Dahlak Archipelago). A single record in the Mediterranean Sea from Port Said, Egypt (Norman 1927), one specimen was collected from the Bardawil lagoon, Egypt (Kovačić & Golani 2007b)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 46-47, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Norman, J. R. (1927) Zoological results of the Cambridge Expedition to the Suez Canal, 1924. Report on the fishes. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 22 (3 / 12), 375 - 390. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.1927. tb 00386. x","Goren, M. (1985) A review of the gobiid fish genus Monishia Smith, 1949, from the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea, with description of a new species. Contributions in Science, 360, 1 - 99. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / p. 208179","Kovacic, M. & Golani, D. (2007 b) First record of Papillogobius melanobranchus in the Mediterranean Sea and new data on geographic distributions, bathymetric ranges and morphology of several benthic fishes in the Levant. Cybium, 31 (4), 417 - 425. https: // doi. org / 10.26028 / cybium / 2007 - 314 - 002"]}

Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770) (Fig. 67)—Sand Goby Gobius minutus Pallas, 1770: 4; type locality: Belgian Sea. Size. Maximum size 9.5 cm total length (Miller 1986). Morphology. D VI (VI–VII) + I,10–12;A I,9–12; P 18–21 (Miller 1986). Medium-sized goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin, head slightly depressed and moderately large. Snout moderately large and pointed. Eyes dorsolateral, interorbital space quite 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. Scales present on body and on predorsal area at least posteriorly, usually visible on photographs at least dorsally. Live coloration. Background color pale with irregular reticulation and light brown, white or gray spots. Usually light colored with no recognizable pattern (Fig. 67a), but sometimes with more contrasting markings: 7, often illdefined whitish dorsal saddles, the first, narrower and often fainter than the others, on nape above pectoral-fin base, 2 below first dorsal-fin, 2 below second dorsal fin, 2 on caudal peduncle (Fig. 67); variable number of faint brown spots and vertical lines along midline, with one horizontal darker horizontal T-shaped blotch on caudal-fin base. One suborbital dark bar, often obvious, between eye and side of upper lip. No pale dot on nape behind eyes. First dorsal fin poorly pigmented, often with a blue-black spot on the distal rear corner, close to the edge, including in females (Fig. 67b). Similar species. Pomatoschistus marmoratus, P. microps, P. norvegicus. Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, on soft bottoms from less than 1–70 m depth (Miller 1986). Geographic distribution. Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea. Recorded in the Mediterranean along the north coast from the Alboran Sea to Aegean Sea (Miller 1986; Özen et al. 2007), also common in the Black Sea (Miller 1986). In the Atlantic Ocean known from Gibraltar to Norway (Miller 1986)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 79-80, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Pallas, P. S. (1770) Spicilegia Zoologica quibus novae imprimis et obscurae animalium species iconibus, descriptionibus atque commentariis illustrantur. 1 (8). Gottl. August. Lange, Berolini, 56 pp., 5 pls.","Ozen, O., Irmak, E. & Bilecenog ˘ lu, M. (2007) Occurrence of Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770) (Pisces: Gobiidae) at the north Aegean coast of Turkey. Annales, Series Historia Naturalis, 17, 161 - 164."]}

Tridentiger trigonocephalus (Gill, 1859) (Fig. 9)—Chameleon Goby Triaenophorus trigonocephalus Gill, 1859: 18; type locality: Hong Kong. Size. Reaches 11 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,11–13; A I,10–12; P 19–20, single uppermost ray free. Body moderately elongate, nearly round anteriorly and laterally compressed posteriorly, depth 5.3–5.8 in standard length. Head large, somewhat depressed, with relatively short blunt snout. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. First to fifth spines of first dorsal fin subequal in length, none elongate. Pelvic fins joined to form a disc. Caudal fin rounded, shorter than head (Boltachev & Karpova 2017). Scales present on body, usually poorly visible on photographs. No scales on head and prepectoral area; predorsal area naked. Live coloration. Body brown to beige, usually with 2 continuous or interrupted dark brown stripes (Fig. 9), first beginning from just above orbit, continuing along back and ending at upper caudal-fin base, second stripe extending from snout through eye along mid-side of body ending at caudal-fin midbase. Side of head with small pale spots. Another color form with stripes interrupted by pale interspaces, short brown bars on back and the black spot on upper caudal peduncle visible. A third color form is blackish with indistinct stripes. Similar species. Gobius vittatus. Habitat. Inhabits sand and stone bottoms in marine and brackish waters at depths of 1–5 m. Geographic distribution. Native distribution range is confined to Japan, Korea and China. Introduced to eastern Pacific, Australia and Black Sea in the Sevastopol Bay (Boltachev & Karpova 2017). In the Mediterranean there is a single record from Ashdod, Israel (Goren et al. 2009)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 87, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Gill, T. N. (1859) Prodromus descriptionis familiae Gobioidarum duorum generum novorum. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, 7 (1 - 3, art. 4), 16 - 19. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1749 - 6632.1862. tb 00135. x","Boltachev, A. R. & Karpova, E. P. (2017) Marine fishes of the Crimean Peninsula, second edition. Business-Inform, Simpheropol, 376 pp.","Goren, M., Gayer, K. & Lazarus, N. (2009) First record of the Far East chameleon goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus (Gill 1859) in the Mediterranean Sea. Aquatic Invasions, 4, 1 - 3. https: // doi. org / 10.3391 / ai. 2009.4.2.22"]}

Gobius incognitus Kovačić & Šanda, 2016 (Fig. 37)—Incognito Goby Gobius incognitus Kovačić & Šanda, 2016: 1106, type locality: northwestern Mediterranean, France, Gulf of Lion, Banyulssur-Mer, Paulliles beach. Size. Known adult size about 9–10 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,13–14; A I,12–13; P 19–20. Medium-sized goby with moderately long body, large head, short snout. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded edge and no elongated spines. Caudal fin rounded. Scales small, visible on body and usually on predorsal area as dense pattern. Predorsal area and nape scaled (Kovačić & Šanda 2016). Live coloration. Body uniformly pale gray, greenish gray or light brown, covered with longitudinal lines of brown dots (Fig. 37A). The dots are broadest, darkest and most numerous along the lateral midline, where they coalesce in well-aligned midlateral dashes or blotches separated by white spaces. Eyes with a conspicuous horizontal stripe through the center, upper iris with separate brown dots or radiating stripes without a longitudinal mark uniting them (Fig. 37b). V-shaped line in the center of the snout. Three longitudinal rows of dots recognizable on cheek or in irregular pattern (Fig. 33d); the median row more or less regularly crosses the center of the cheek, parallel to the lower row. There is a well-defined dark dot at posterior angle of mouth, so the lower row begins with an isolated dot at the corner of the mouth, usually followed by 2 short horizontal dashes. Upper lip with brown marks in addition to the dot on the corner of the mouth (Fig. 37b) (Kovačić & Šanda 2016; Renoult et al. 2022). Similar species. Gobius bucchichi, G. fallax. Habitat. Infralittoral species, known from 0.5–12 m depth mostly on shallow and sub-horizontal bottoms with sand and stones or rocks (Kovačić & Šanda 2016). At low depths it is typically associated with the sea anemone Anemonia viridis (Tiralongo et al. 2020). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean. Confirmed presence from the northwestern Mediterranean to the Aegean Sea and Israel (Kovačić & Šanda 2016)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 58-59, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Kovacic, M. & Sanda, R. (2016) A new species of Gobius (Perciformes: Gobiidae) from the Mediterranean Sea and the redescription of Gobius bucchichi. Journal of Fish Biology, 88, 1104 - 1124. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jfb. 12883","Renoult, J. P., Pillon, R., Kovacic, M. & Louisy, P. (2022) Frontiers in Fishwatching Series - Gobies of North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Gobius and Thorogobius. Les cahiers de la fondation Biotope. [in press]"]}

Cryptocentrus steinhardti Goren & Stern, 2021 (Fig. 46)—Steinhardt’s Shrimpgoby Cryptocentrus steinhardti Goren & Stern, 2021: 1; type locality: eastern Mediterranean Sea, Israel, Ashdod. Size. Reaches 8.2 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,10; A I,9; P 15. Body elongate, the depth 6.5 in standard length. Head subcylindrical, snout short and blunt. Eyes elevated above dorsal profile of head (Fig. 46). Caudal peduncle slender, clearly lower than body height. Third and fourth spines of first dorsal fin longest, elongate. Second dorsal fin subequal in height to first fin. Pelvic fins joined medially, reaching anus. Caudal fin rounded, clearly longer than head length (Fig. 46). Body covered with scales; no scales on head and pectoral-fin base, but scales not visible or poorly visible on live specimen photographs. Live coloration. Body whitish or yellowish with three slightly oblique brown bars (Fig. 46), the first below first dorsal fin, second and third below anterior and posterior part of second dorsal fin respectively, large irregular brown spot or bar at caudal-fin base, and scattered brown spots about pupil size in pale interspaces; predorsal area, nape and dorsal part of opercle with small irregular dark brown blotches. Similar species. Oxyurichthys petersii. Habitat. In the Mediterranean, inhabits soft substrata of open sand areas at depths of 11–80 m; observed to share a burrow with snapping shrimps (Goren & Stern 2021; P. Louisy unpublished observations). Geographic distribution. At present is known only from three specimens caught in the eastern Mediterranean off the southern Israeli coast and underwater photographs taken in southern Turkey at Kas (Goren & Stern 2021; present study), recently was photographed in the Red Sea at Eilat, Israel (Bogorodsky & Goren, in prep.).

Buenia massutii Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen, 2017 (Fig. 49)—Massuti’s Goby Buenia massutii Kovačić, Ordines & Schliewen, 2017a; type locality: western Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Balearic Islands, Mallorca. Size. Maximum size 4.1 cm total length (Ordines et al. 2019a). Morphology. D VI + I,7; A I,6–7; P 16–17 (Kovačić et al. 2017a; Ordines et al. 2019a, 2019b). Small goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin. Head slightly depressed and fairly long. Eyes large and close together, with narrow interorbital space. Caudal peduncle slender, clearly lower than body height. Second spine of first dorsal fin elongate in males, reaching to or behind posterior end of the second dorsal fin when folded down. Caudal fin rounded. Scales present, visibility on live specimens unknown. Freshly dead coloration. Head and body yellowish white to dusky white with scattered yellow, orange and dark brown markings. Body with 5 black marks, the first one over abdomen below first dorsal fin, three short vertical black marks at and below lateral midline and fifth longer vertical mark on caudal-fin base (Fig. 49a). Eyes grayish to brownish, occasionally with small pale gray dots. A rectangular area of small close-set dark dots below eye. Similar species. Buenia affinis. Habitat. Circalittoral, on Peyssonnelia and maerl red algae beds, coarse sand and deep-sea oyster shell remains bottoms from around 50 m to 116 m depth (Kovačić et al. 2017a; Ordines et al. 2019a, 2019b). A small individual photographed at 41 m depth on detritic sand (Fig. 49B) might be this species (Rufray et al. 2021). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic Ocean: Gulf of Cádiz, Atlantic; Alboran Island, Águilas and off Balearic Islands, Spain (Kovačić et al. 2017a; Ordines et al. 2019a, 2019b); possibly southern France (Rufray et al. 2021)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 44-45, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Kovacic, M., Ordines, F. & Schliewen, U. (2017 a) A new species of Buenia (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the western Mediterranean Sea, with the description of this genus. Zootaxa, 4050 (5), 447 - 460. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4250.5.3","Ordines, F., Kovacic, M., Vivas, M., Garcia-Ruiz, C. & Guijarro, B. (2019 a) Westernmost Mediterranean records of three gobiid species (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Gobiidae). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 49, 275 - 282. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIEP / 02604","Ordines, F., Ramirez-Amaro, S. Burgos C., Baro, J., Kovacic, M. & Sobrino, I. (2019 b) First record of Buenia massutii Kovacic, Ordines, & Schliewen, 2017 in the Atlantic Ocean based on molecular and morphological evidences. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 36, 85 - 89. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jai. 13985","Rufray, X., Pillon, R. & Louisy, P. (2021) Signalisation de / Record of Buenia massutii, 03 December 2021 (obs. 17 October 2020, photo 6013). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.) Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 4 December 2021)"]}

Aulopareia unicolor (Valenciennes, 1837) (Fig. 48)—Greenspot Goby Gobius unicolor Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1837: 88; type locality: Indonesia, Jawa. Size. Reaches 13 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,10; A I,9; P 18–19; body stout, moderately elongate and somewhat laterally compressed, body depth 5.2–5.6 in standard length. Head subcylindrical, snout short, obtuse. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin and first to fifth spines longest, not elongate. Pelvic fins united to form a disc. Caudal fin rounded, subequal to head length. Body and nape covered with scales. Scales prominent, visible on body and predorsal area, head naked except for dorsal part of operculum (Kimura et al. 2018). Fresh coloration. Body dark grayish brown with many small bright green spots, small black spots on side of abdomen and usually a diffuse blue-green mark above posterior part of opercle; a small black spot at upper caudal-fin base (Fig. 48). Similar species. Dark males of Gobius niger and G. paganellus. Habitat. Inhabits brackish estuaries or shallow sandy areas. Geographic distribution. In the Indian Ocean known only from Kerala, southwestern India (based on the specimen CAS 29748 identified by H. Larson), not recorded in the Red Sea. Also reported from the Gulf of Thailand, western Indonesia, Vietnam, and China in the western Pacific Ocean. Mediterranean records of the species are based on specimens collected from Port Said and Damietta, Egypt (Akel & Rizkalla 2017)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 42, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Cuvier, G. & Valenciennes, A. (1837) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome douzieme. Suite du livre quatorzieme. Gobioides. Livre quinzieme. Acanthopterygiens a pectorales pediculees. Chez F. G. Levrault, Paris, xxiv + 507 + 1 pp., pls. 344 - 368. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 7339","Kimura, S., Imamura, H., Nguyen, V. Q. & Pham, T. D. (2018) Fishes of Ha Long Bay, the World Natural Heritage Site in northern Vietnam. Fisheries Research Laboratory, Mie University, Shima, ix + 314 pp.","Akel, S. H. & Rizkalla, S. I. (2017) A first record of Aulopareia unicolor (Valenciennes, 1837) (Family: Gobiidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, 21 (2), 63 - 66. https: // doi. org / 10.21608 / ejabf. 2017.3533"]}

Buenia affinis Iljin, 1930 (Fig. 41)—De Buen’s Goby Buenia affinis Iljin, 1930: 51, Figs. 33–34; no type locality stated. Size. Maximum known size 3.8 cm total length (Kovačić 2002b). Morphology. D VI + I,8; A I,7; P 15–16 (Kovačić 2002b). Small goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin. Head slightly depressed and fairly long. Eyes large and close together, with narrow interorbital space. Caudal peduncle slender, clearly lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, first dorsal fin more or less with rounded edge with no elongate spines. Caudal fin rounded. Scales visible on upper body only by reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges. Live coloration. Body dorsally mainly brown or beige with 4–5 well-defined, usually dark-edged, pale dorsal saddles, each terminating with a midlateral dark blotch; ventral half of body abruptly white with 10–12 narrow brownish bars (Fig. 41). The cheek below orbit with darkened rectangular area formed by many small close-set dark dots. Typically 2 parallel dark dashes between eye and upper lip (Fig. 41a): lower one broad and always visible, the upper one thin and sometimes hard to see (Fig. 41b). Iris and eye rim dark gray to dark brown, often with well-defined light gray dots (Fig. 41). First dorsal fin very lightly pigmented, sometimes appearing transparent. When visible, fin with 2 white longitudinal stripes alternating with 3 brown-yellow bands; sometimes small blackish dot in the posterior fin corner. No specific sexual dichromatism reported (Kovačić 2002b). Similar species. Buenia massutii, Pomatoschistus adriaticus, P. bathi, P. quagga. Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, known from 1–48 m depth on coarse and medium grain sand bottoms (Kovačić 2002b; Kovačić et al. 2018). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean Sea. Recorded from the Balearic Islands (Kovačić et al. 2018), France (Kovačić & Patzner 2009; Duhau et al. 2019; P. Louisy & P. Renoult, unpublished observations), Naples (Sanzo 1911), Croatia in the Kvarner area (Kovačić 2002b) and Mljet Island (Kovačić et al. 2012b), Turkey, from Yeni Foça-Çakmaklý Island, Izmir in the Aegean Sea and Erdek-Horkos Island in the Sea of Marmara (Engin et al. 2014)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 43, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Iljin, B. S. (1930) Le systeme des Gobiides. Trabajos, Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, 2, 1 - 63.","Kovacic, M. (2002 b) A northern Adriatic population of Buenia affinis (Gobiidae). Cybium, 26, 197 - 201.","Kovacic, M. & Patzner, R. A. (2009) Reidentification of Buenia specimens (Gobiidae) from Banyuls-sur-Mer (France, western Mediterranean). Cybium, 33, 175 - 176.","Duhau, M., Pillon, R. & Louisy, P. (2019) Signalisation de / Record of Buenia affinis, 31 December 2019 (obs. 06 August 2018, photo 5462). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.). Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 28 September 2021)","Sanzo, L. (1911) Distribuzione delle papille cutanee (organi ciatiforme) e suo valore sistematico nei Gobi. Mitteilungen aus der Zoologischen Station zu Neapel, 20, 249 - 328.","Kovacic, M., Sanda, R., Kirincic, M. & Zanella D. (2012 b) Geographic distribution of gobies (Gobiidae) in the Adriatic Sea with thirteen new records for its southern part. Cybium, 36, 435 - 445. https: // doi. org / 10.26028 / cybium / 2012 - 363 - 003","Engin, S., Keskin, A. C., Akdemir, T. & Seyhan, D. (2014) First record of the goby Buenia affinis Iljin, 1930 (Gobiidae) from the Aegean Sea and Sea of Marmara. Zoology in the Middle East, 60, 368 - 371. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 09397140.2014.970380"]}

Thorogobius macrolepis (Kolombatović, 1891) (Fig. 6)—Large-scaled Goby Gobius macrolepis Kolombatović, 1891: 4; type locality: Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Dalmatia. Size. Known adult size about 6 cm total length. Morphology. D V–VI + I,10–12; A I,10; P 17–20. Body relatively short, laterally compressed. Head moderately long, with a steep snout profile. Anterior nostril tubular, with no dermal process from its rim. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin. The uppermost pectoral-fin rays are within the membrane with no free rays (Miller 1969; Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997). Scales present on body, usually poorly visible on photographs. Predorsal area naked. Live coloration. Ground coloration white to light gray with a light blue sheen on the back and pearly white markings ventrally. Orange to yellow-orange spots on body (Fig. 6). Five brick red to orange midlateral blotches, 2 to 3 times longer than deeper, each blotch sometimes appearing as 2 contiguous spots. Interspaces between blotches often pearly white. Many short line segments, horizontal or oblique, each of 3-5 light orange dots, above the lateral midline. Head and predorsal area covered with many orange spots larger than the dots of the back but smaller than the midlateral blotches. No V-shaped mark on snout (Fig. 6). One orange, oblique preorbital bar extending onto the upper lip; otherwise the lips are white. Dorsal fins blue-gray with three orange transverse bands and a broader whitish to light blue marginal band. Caudal fin also blue gray with 3-4 sinuous orange bars (Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997). Similar species. Gobius kolombatovici, Thorogobius ephippiatus. Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, known from 6–60 m depth, on detritic coarse sand and gravel, close to rocky shelters, typically at the foot of rocky walls (Glavičić & Kovačić 2016; Renoult et al. 2022). Geographic distribution. Northern Mediterranean, presently known from continental Spain (off Barcelona, Colección de referencia de otolitos, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar-CSIC via GBIF) and the Balearic Island of Ibiza (Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997), between Marseilles in France and Tuscany in Italy including Monaco (Francour 2007), Lipari Island (Italy; Muriel Duhau unpublished observation), the Adriatic (Kolombatović 1891; Ahnelt & Kovačić 1997; Guidetti et al. 2006; Trkov et al. 2019), the Turkish Aegean coast (Francour et al. 2007; Bilecenoğlu & Yokes 2016), and further east in that country in the Levant basin (Bilecenoğlu & Yokes 2016)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 86, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Kolombatovic, G. (1891) Glamoci (Gobii) Spljetskog Pomorskog Okruzja Dalmaciji (In Croatian and Italian). Godisnje Izviesce C. K. Velike Realke u Splitu za Skolsku Godinu, Split, 1890 - 1891, 3 - 29.","Miller, P. J. (1969) Systematics and biology of the leopard-spotted goby, Gobius ephippiatus [Teleostei: Gobiidae], with description of a new genus and notes on the identity of G. macrolepis Kolombatovic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 49 (4), 831 - 855. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 002531540003798 X","Ahnelt, H. & Kovacic, M. (1997) A northern Adriatic population of Thorogobius macrolepis (Gobiidae). Cybium, 21 (2), 149 - 162. https: // doi. org / 10.19233 / ASHN. 2016.18","Glavicic, I. & Kovacic, M. (2016) A quantitative sampling method for assessment of deep cryptobenthic ichthyofauna using trimix diving. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 46 (1), 43 - 47. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIP 2016.46.1.06","Renoult, J. P., Pillon, R., Kovacic, M. & Louisy, P. (2022) Frontiers in Fishwatching Series - Gobies of North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Gobius and Thorogobius. Les cahiers de la fondation Biotope. [in press]","Guidetti, P., Bussotti, S. & Kovacic, M. (2006) First record of the large-scaled goby, Thorogobius macrolepis (Pisces, Gobiidae), in Italian seas. Thalassia Salentina, 29, 41 - 45.","Trkov, D., Mavric, B., Orlando-Bonaca, M. & Lipej, L. (2019) Marine cryptobenthic fish fauna of Slovenia (Northern Adriatic Sea). Annales, Series Historia Naturalis, 29 (1), 59 - 72. https: // doi. org / 10.19233 / ASHN. 2019.07","Bilecenog ˘ lu, M. & Yokes, M. B. (2016) Scuba observations reveal a wider distribution range for Thorogobius macrolepis (Teleostei: Gobiidae). Annales: Series Historia Naturalis, 26 (2), 197."]}

Aphia minuta (Risso, 1810) (Fig. 31)—Transparent Goby Atherina minuta Risso, 1810: 340; type locality: northwestern Mediterranean Sea, France, Nice. Size. Maximum known size 5.8 cm total length (La Mesa et al. 2005). Morphology. D IV–VI + I,11–13; A I,11–15; P 15–19. Pedomorphic habitus. Body laterally compressed. Eyes lateral, interorbital wide. Mouth superior, oblique, tip of lower jaw at the horizontal level of pupil. Caudal peduncle slender in females, deeper in males, lower than body height. Dorsal fins distant from each other, with a broad interdorsal space. The first dorsal fin small, roughly of trapezoid or parallelogram shape. Second dorsal fin high, with moderately short base and ray lengths decreasing posteriorly giving the fin triangular appearance, at least in females. Pelvic disc complete (Miller 1986; Patzner 2021). Caudal fin truncate to slightly emarginate. Scales present, but not usually visible on photographs. Live coloration. Body translucent, usually with a row of melanophores along anal-fin base, no triangular black spot at the base of caudal fin and no well-defined black spots laterally on abdomen (Fig. 31). Similar species. Crystallogobius linearis. Habitat. Pelagic and neritic species, widely distributed in inshore and estuarine waters from the surface to 80–100 m depth over sand, mud, sea-weed (Cystoseira spp.) and over seagrasses (Zostera marina and Posidonia oceanica) (La Mesa et al. 2005). Geographic distribution. The northeastern Atlantic, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the western Baltic and the coasts of Norway, as well as in the Mediterranean, including the Adriatic Sea, Black Sea and Azov Sea (La Mesa et al. 2005; Boltachev & Karpova 2017)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 42, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Risso, A. (1810) Ichtyologie de Nice, ou histoire naturelle des poissons du departement des Alpes Maritimes. F. Schoell, Paris, xxxvi + 388 pp. [reprint, 1966, Asher, Amsterdam] https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 7052","La Mesa, M., Arneri, E. Caputo, V. & Iglesias, M. (2005) The transparent goby, Aphia minuta: review of biology and fisheries of a paedomorphic European fish. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 15, 89 - 109. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 11160 - 005 - 1613 - 4","Patzner, R. A. (2021) Gobiidae. Available from: http: // www. patzner. sbg. ac. at / Gobiidae / GobiidaeSpecies. htm (accessed 1 October 2021)","Boltachev, A. R. & Karpova, E. P. (2017) Marine fishes of the Crimean Peninsula, second edition. Business-Inform, Simpheropol, 376 pp."]}

Pomatoschistus tortonesei Miller, 1968 (Fig. 71)—Tortonese’s Goby Pomatoschistus tortonesei Miller, 1968: 221; type locality: Mediterranean Sea, Italy, Sicily, Marsala. Size. Maximum size 3.7 cm total length (Miller 1986). Morphology. D VI (V–VI) + I,6–8; A I,6–8; P 17–20 (Miller 1986). Small goby, with relatively robust subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin. Head slightly depressed and moderately large. Snout short. Eyes dorsolateral, interorbital space moderately narrow. Caudal peduncle slender, distinctly lower than body depth, more slender in females. First dorsal fin about equal to or lower than second dorsal fin, with more or less rounded margin. Caudal fin rounded. Scales visible on dead specimens from reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges, visibility on live specimens unknown (Miller 1986). Freshly dead coloration. Body fawn with darker ferruginous reticulation. Usually 2 suborbital bars (with a pale area in between), one from anterior edge of eye to upper lip, a second one from rear edge of eye to corner of mouth; occasionally a dark bar at the junction of preopercle and opercle. Females with 3 conspicuous thin dark bars on posterior body (behind anus); bright yellow branchiostegal membrane (under head) and sometimes a yellow abdomen; a dark mark on chin (Fig. 71). Males with numerous, poorly-defined, vertical dark markings across sides; dark pelvic fins, breast and branchiostegal membrane (Miller 1986). Similar species. P. marmoratus, P. microps, P. quagga. Habitat. Infralittoral species, in lagoons, from brackish to slightly hypersaline, in shallows on sand near seagrass (Miller 1986). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean. Recorded from the central and southern Mediterranean from Sicily, Libya and Tunisia (Miller 1986; Mejri et al. 2009b)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 83, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Mejri, R., Lo Brutto, S., Ben Hassine, O. K. & Arculeo, M. (2009 b) A study on Pomatoschistus tortonesei Miller 1968 (Perciformes, Gobiidae) reveals the Siculo-Tunisian Strait (STS) as a breakpoint to gene flow in the Mediterranean basin. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 53, 596 - 601. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. ympev. 2009.04.018"]}

Gobius paganellus Linnaeus, 1758 (Fig. 57)—Rock Goby Gobius paganellus Linnaeus, 1758: 263, type locality: Mediterranean Sea. Size. Known adult size about 12 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,12–15; A I,10–13; P 15–20. Medium-sized goby with a proportionally short and stocky body. Head wide and moderately depressed. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin may be slightly higher, with a more or less rounded distal edge and no elongate spines. Pectoral-fin free rays very well developed. Caudal fin rounded. Predorsal area and nape entirely covered with large scales. Scales visible on body and usually also on predorsal area (Miller 1986; Louisy 2015). Live coloration. Background coloration highly variable, ranging from light beige to dark brown (Fig. 57a). Nesting males occasionally entirely black, with just the first dorsal fin margin colored (Fig. 57b). Most frequent pattern: broad dark bars and thin alternate white saddles on the back, medium-sized dark blotches along lateral midline, and small dark markings on a light background below. Usually a pale to white bar between eye and corner of mouth; it is often preceded by a dark preorbital bar. First dorsal fin usually dark with an orange to yellow marginal band (Renoult et al. 2022). Similar species. Gobius ater, G. cobitis, Millerigobius macrocephalus, Zebrus zebrus, Z. pallaoroi. Habitat. Infralittoral species known from 0.5–20 m depth on very diverse hard or mixed bottoms (Patzner 2021; P. Louisy unpublished observation). Geographic distribution. The whole of the Mediterranean (Miller 1986), Black Sea (Engin & Seyhan 2009) and Eastern Atlantic from Great Britain to Senegal (Miller 1986), including the Azores (Santos et al. 1997), the Canary Islands (Wirtz 1994) and Madeira (Wirtz et al. 2008)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 61-63, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Impensis Direct. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae, ii + 824 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 542","Louisy, P. (2015) Europe and Mediterranean Marine Fish Identification Guide. 3 rd Edition. Eugen Ulmer Ed., Paris, 512 pp.","Renoult, J. P., Pillon, R., Kovacic, M. & Louisy, P. (2022) Frontiers in Fishwatching Series - Gobies of North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Gobius and Thorogobius. Les cahiers de la fondation Biotope. [in press]","Patzner, R. A. (2021) Gobiidae. Available from: http: // www. patzner. sbg. ac. at / Gobiidae / GobiidaeSpecies. htm (accessed 1 October 2021)","Engin, S. & Seyhan, K. (2009) Biological characteristics of rock goby Gobius paganellus in the South eastern Black Sea. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 39, 111 - 118. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIP 2009.39.2.05","Santos, R. S., Porteiro, F. M. & Barreiros, J. P. (1997) Marine fishes of the Azores: annotated checklist and bibliography. Bulletin of the University of Azores, Supplement 1, 1 - 244.","Wirtz, P. (1994) Underwater Guide. Fish of Madeira, Canary Islands and Azores. Verlag Stephanie Naglschmid, Stuttgart, 126 pp.","Wirtz, P., Fricke, R. & Biscoito, M. J. (2008) The coastal fishes of Madeira Island - new records and an annotated check-list. Zootaxa, 1715 (1), 1 - 26. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 1715.1.1"]}

Vanneaugobius dollfusi Brownell, 1978 (Fig. 19)—Dollfus’ Goby Vanneaugobius dollfusi Brownell, 1978: 124, Figs. 1, 2, 4; type locality: Morocco, off Agadir. Size. Maximum known size about 3.9 cm total length (Kovačić 2008b). Morphology. D VI–VII + I,9–10; A I,8–9; P 16–17. A small species with a moderately elongated body. Caudal peduncle deep, almost as deep as body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin, can be pointed in males with the first spine longest (see Francour et al. 2010 *). Caudal fin rounded, 2 large spinous scales on upper and lower fin base (barely visible, even in close-up photographs). Pelvic fins are separated, also hardly visible from lateral view. Scales present on body, usually poorly visible on photographs. Predorsal area naked (Kovačić 2008b). Live coloration. Head and body grayish with pale orange, reddish, rarely pinkish blotches and speckles, or indistinct bars of same colors on a paler background (Fig. 19), sometimes faded depending on the environment and the mood of the fish. Head mostly orange with irregular pale markings or speckles; the tubular anterior nostrils are white. Usually 8–9 pale areas along back (from nape to caudal peduncle), sometimes becoming small white saddles. A series of typical short pearly white bars arranged in 3-5 pairs on lower body (depending on how much visible they are), usually interspersed with midlateral orange elongated blotches. First dorsal fin translucent with orange-red dots along spines. Sometimes an elongate dark spot on anterior basal part of first dorsal fin, but not always visible in the field; this dark spot on the first dorsal fin is present in both sexes, but seems more commonly displayed by females (Van Tassell et al. 1988; Kovačić 2008b; Louisy 2015). Similar species. Odondebuenia balearica, Corcyrogobius liechtensteini. Habitat. Observed or collected underwater by SCUBA diving between 27–60 m depth, often found lying on sediment at the foot of rocky or coralligenous walls or slopes, quickly hiding in a nearby cavity or shelter (Kovačić 2008b; Francour et al. 2010 *; Le Bris et al. 2015; Glavičić & Kovačić 2016; Glavičić et al. 2016; Dubas et al. 2018). Most of the collected specimens were caught deeper, mostly with beam trawls between 54–160 m depth, on different habitats: coralligenous or rocky grounds, maërl, deep algal beds, shell debris, sand, mud (Pallaoro & Kovačić 2000; Ahnelt & Dorda 2004; Ordines et al. 2019a). Geographic distribution. Eastern Atlantic and northern Mediterranean species. Types collected in Agadir, Atlantic coast of Morocco (Brownell 1978). Known in the Mediterranean from the Balearic Islands (Ordines et al. 2019) to the Aegean Sea, Peloponnese (Ahnelt & Dorda 2004); records include France, Gulf of Lion (Le Bris et al. 2015), French Riviera (Duhau et al. 2020c), Corsica (Francour et al. 2010 *), Italy, Strait of Sicily (Consoli et al. 2019), Malta (Kovačić & Schembri 2019) and the Adriatic Sea (Pallaoro & Kovačić 2000; Ahnelt & Dorda 2004; Kovačić et al. 2012b). * Although misidentified in the cited report, three good photographs allow for a positive identification of V. dollfusi (which makes them the first French record of this species). See also Louisy (2015)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on pages 88-89, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Brownell, C. L. (1978) Vanneaugobius dollfusi, a new genus and species of small gobiid with divided ventrals from Morocco (Pisces, Gobioidei). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 43 (2), 135 - 145. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00359197809520233","Kovacic, M. (2008 b) Live colouration, morphology and habitat of Vanneaugobius dollfusi (Gobiidae) in the northern Adriatic Sea. Journal of Fish Biology, 73, 1019 - 1023. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8649.2008.01918. x","Francour, P., Bodilis, P., Cottalorda, J. M. & Seytre, C. (2010) Inventaire des Gobiidae dans la Reiserve Naturelle de Scandola (Corse) et aI proximitei de ses limites. Contrat Parc Naturel Reigional de la Corse. Universitei de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, ECOMERS publ., Nice, 1 - 54.","Van Tassell, J. L., Miller, P. J. & Brito, A. (1988) A revision of Vanneaugobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae), with description of a new species. Journal of Natural History, 22 (2), 545 - 567. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222938800770371","Louisy, P. (2015) Europe and Mediterranean Marine Fish Identification Guide. 3 rd Edition. Eugen Ulmer Ed., Paris, 512 pp.","Glavicic, I. & Kovacic, M. (2016) A quantitative sampling method for assessment of deep cryptobenthic ichthyofauna using trimix diving. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 46 (1), 43 - 47. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIP 2016.46.1.06","Dubas, R., Pillon, R. & Louisy, P. (2018) Signalisation de / Record of Vanneaugobius dollfusi, 26 December 2018 (obs. 09 June 2018, photo 4676). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.). Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 28 September 2021)","Pallaoro, A. & Kovacic, M. (2000) Vanneaugobius dollfusi Brownell, 1978 a rare fish new to the Adriatic Sea. Journal of Fish Biology, 55, 255 - 257. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8649.2000. tb 00791. x","Ahnelt, H. & Dorda, J. (2004) Gobioid fishes from the north eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: new records and rarely found species. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 105 B, 5 - 19.","Ordines, F., Kovacic, M., Vivas, M., Garcia-Ruiz, C. & Guijarro, B. (2019 a) Westernmost Mediterranean records of three gobiid species (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Gobiidae). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 49, 275 - 282. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIEP / 02604","Duhau, M., Renoult, J. & Louisy, P. (2020 c) Signalisation de / Record of Vanneaugobius dollfusi, 24 December 2020 (obs. 20 August 2020, photo 5819). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.). Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 28 September 2021)","Consoli, P., Kovacic, M., Battaglia, P., Romeo, T., Scotti, G., Andaloro, F. & Patzner, R. A. (2019) First record of two gobiid fish from the Strait of Sicily (central Mediterranean Sea): Odondebuenia balearica (Pellegrin & Fage, 1907) and Vanneaugobius dollfusi (Brownell, 1978). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 60, 263 - 268. https: // doi. org / 10.21411 / CBM. A. 36 F 385 CB","Kovacic, M. & Schembri, P. J. (2019) Twelve new records of gobies and clingfishes (Pisces: Teleostei) significantly increase small benthic fish diversity of Maltese waters. Mediterranean Marine Science, 20, 287 - 296. https: // doi. org / 10.12681 / mms. 19816","Kovacic, M., Sanda, R., Kirincic, M. & Zanella D. (2012 b) Geographic distribution of gobies (Gobiidae) in the Adriatic Sea with thirteen new records for its southern part. Cybium, 36, 435 - 445. https: // doi. org / 10.26028 / cybium / 2012 - 363 - 003"]}

Lebetus patzneri Schliewen, Kovačić & Ordines, 2019 (Fig. 11)—Patzner’s Goby Lebetus patzneri Schliewen, Kovačić & Ordines, 2019: 236; type locality: western Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Balearic Islands, Menorca Channel. Size. Maximum size 2.1 cm total length (Schliewen et al. 2019). Morphology. D VI–VII+I,7–8;A I,6; P 15–16. Small goby with subcylindrical body, laterally compressed towards caudal fin. Head slightly depressed and fairly long. Eyes moderately large and close together. Snout moderately long and pointed. Lips thick, giving mouth a broad, almost rectangular shape in dorsal and lateral view. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body depth. The first dorsal fin small, more or less with rounded distal edge. Caudal fin rounded. Body covered with scales, but scales poorly visible on freshly dead specimen photographs, visibility on live specimens unknown (Schliewen et al. 2019). Freshly dead coloration. Head and body red, gently black dotted (peppered) and with irregular white markings; first dorsal fin entirely dark (Fig. 11). Three red bars radiating from lower margin of eye, with white in between. Caudal peduncle mostly red as the rest of body, with only a triangular white blotch or saddle (Fig. 11) (Schliewen et al. 2019). Similar species. Lebetus guilleti, Speleogobius trigloides, Vanneaugobius dollfusi. Habitat. Circalittoral, on Peyssonnelia and rodolith red algae beds, from 60–72 m depth (Schliewen et al. 2019). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean, only known from Balearic Islands, Spain (Schliewen et al. 2019)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 68, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Schliewen, U. K., Kovacic, M., Gerwenka, A. F., Svensen, R. & Ordines, F. (2019) Lebetus patzneri (Teleostei: Gobiidae), a new goby species from the Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean, with first records of Lebetus guilleti (Le Danois, 1913) from this area and Norway, and with notes on its biology. Zootaxa, 4706 (2), 231 - 254. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4706.2.2"]}

Zebrus pallaoroi Kovačić, Šanda & Vukić, 2021 (Fig. 29)—Pallaoro’s Goby Zebrus pallaoroi Kovačić, Šanda & Vukić, 2021: 9, Figs. 1A, 2A–C, 3; type locality: Adriatic Sea, Montenegro, Boka Kotorska, Kostanjica. Note: This species was described recently and we lack information on its aspect and coloration in life; the present account is thus provisional and may not allow for a fully reliable visual identification and differentiation from Z. zebrus. Size. Maximum known size 4.1 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,10–11; A I,8–9; P 17. Small goby with a body more slender than in Zebrus zebrus, a large and somewhat flattened head, and a deep caudal peduncle of almost same depth as body. Eyes relatively small, snout slightly longer than eye diameter. Head wide, with large prominent cheeks (Fig. 29c): head width at opercle level about 80–90 % of head length (compared to 50–75 % in Z. zebrus). Anterior nostril a tube with tentacle (Fig. 29c); posterior nostril tube only slightly shorter (more than 80 % of the anterior). Dorsal fins of similar height, the first dorsal fin with more or less rounded margin. The uppermost pectoral-fin rays partly free from membrane (Kovačić et al. 2021; present work). Caudal fin rounded. Body scaled, nape and predorsal area naked. Scales more or less visible on body from reticulate pigmentation along scale edges. Coloration. In dead or preserved specimens, body with 10−11 pale bars along side (Figs. 29a and 29b), first in front of the first dorsal fin, last at the end of the second dorsal fin. Very little is known for sure about this species’ in vivo coloration. Overall live coloration dark to pale brownish or greenish with thin, alternating, pale and dark bars (*). Usually, there are at least 4 pale bars under the first dorsal fin (Figs. 29a and 29b), but this pattern may disappear, the sides of body becoming uniformly colored or mottled dark. When present, the crescent band on head (broad pale transverse band across anterior nape extending on the sides reaching pectoral-fin bases) does not extend forward to eyes. First dorsal fin usually with a whitish longitudinal band, topped with a contrasting orangeyellow to pinkish distal half. Second dorsal fin with dark spots seldom coalescing in lines. (*) The pattern of lateral bars visible on dead or stressed animals do not exactly match the number and location of lateral markings usually displayed underwater (these 2 pattern types may superimpose to various extents). Similar species. Zebrus zebrus, Millerigobius macrocephalus, Chromogobius zebratus. Habitat. Shallow infralittoral species, known from 0–1 m depth between gravel and small boulders (Kovačić et al. 2021, 2022). Also found at 3 m depth (J. Renoult, unpublished data). Geographic distribution. Mediterranean. Recorded in the southern, central and northern part along the eastern Adriatic Sea, the northern part of the Ionian Sea, and the northern and western parts of the Aegean Sea (Kovačić et al. 2021, 2022). Also known from Palavas-les-Flots, southern France (J. Renoult, unpublished data)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 89, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Kovacic, M., Sanda, R., Cekovska, K., T. Soukupova, T. & Vukic, J. (2021) Zebrus pallaoroi sp. nov.: a new species of goby (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) from the Mediterranean Sea with a dna-based phylogenetic analysis of the Gobius - lineage. Contributions to Zoology Advance articles, 90 (3), 285 - 317 https: // doi. org / 10.1163 / 18759866 - bja 10018"]}

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)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 81, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Collett, R. (1902) Meddelelser om Norges fiske i aarene 1884 - 1901 (3 die Hoved-supplement til \" Norges Fiske \"). I. Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-selskabet i Christiania, 1, 1 - 121. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 12557","Louisy, P. (2015) Europe and Mediterranean Marine Fish Identification Guide. 3 rd Edition. Eugen Ulmer Ed., Paris, 512 pp.","Stefanni, S. (2000) First record of the Norway goby in the Adriatic Sea. Journal of Fish Biology, 57, 828 - 830. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8649.2000. tb 00277. x"]}

Gobius roulei de Buen, 1928 (Fig. 58)—Roule’s Goby Gobius roulei de Buen, 1928: 1, figs. 1–2, type locality: western Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Baleares Islands, Mallorca, Palma Bay, Porto Pi. Size. Known adult size about 8–9 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,12–14;A I,12; P 17–19. Medium-sized goby with a relatively slender body, proportionately large head with a short and steep snout. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body. First dorsal fin high and pointed with elongate spines in males, more often with a triangular rounded shape in females (and about height of second dorsal fin). Pectoral-fin free rays moderately developed. Caudal fin rounded. Scales present on body, usually visible on photographs, at least dorsally (Fig. 58). Predorsal area naked (Miller 1986). Rows of dark sensory papillae sometimes visible on nape. Live coloration. Background coloration whitish, grayish or pale orange. Lateral midline covered with an almost continuous line of brown to black dots between pectoral and caudal fins; this line is slightly broadened at regular intervals to form 5 to 6 midlateral blotches (Fig. 58). Back mottled orange to dark brown, with white or gray patches sometimes forming narrow saddles, ventral side almost uniformly light cream, with only faint grayish markings below the midlateral blotches (Fig. 58). Lips white, unmarked. Oculoscapular dark line well visible, beginning with a short and broad orange to pink dash just behind eye. Dorsal-fin membranes pale, with a yellow shade on distal half, and 2 to 3 faint, darker transverse bands on proximal half. Basal half of first spine of each dorsal fin with alternating white and black dashes along leading edge (Fig. 58) (Renoult et al. 2022). Similar species. Gobus niger, G. gasteveni, G. geniporus. Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral to bathyal species known from 1 to 385 m depth (Maul 1976) on sand or coarse sand, among seagrass or bedrocks (Kovačić 1995). Geographic distribution Mediterranean, in the Atlantic recorded only in southern Portugal (Maul 1976). It was described from the Balearic Islands (de Buen 1928), and since has been recorded throughout northern Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Malta (Kovačić & Schembri 2019) and Cyprus (Kovačić & Golani 2006), including southern France (Le Bris & Louisy 2015), the Ligurian Sea (Liu et al. 2009b), Adriatic Sea (Kovačić 1995; Lipej et al. 2005), Aegean Sea and Levant (Bilecenoğlu et al. 2014)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 63, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["De Buen, F. (1928) Descripcion de un nuevo Gobius (G. roulei nov. sp.). Notas y Resumenes, Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, 2, 1 - 6.","Renoult, J. P., Pillon, R., Kovacic, M. & Louisy, P. (2022) Frontiers in Fishwatching Series - Gobies of North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Gobius and Thorogobius. Les cahiers de la fondation Biotope. [in press]","Maul, G. E. (1976) The fishes taken in bottom trawls by R. V. ' Meteor' during the 1967 seamounts cruises in the Northeast Atlantic. Meteor Forschungsergebnisse. Reihe D - Biologie, 22, 1 - 69.","Kovacic, M. (1995) Gobius roulei de Buen, 1928 (Pisces, Teleostei, Gobiidae), a fish new to the Adriatic fauna. Natura Croatica, 4, 173 - 184.","Kovacic, M. & Schembri, P. J. (2019) Twelve new records of gobies and clingfishes (Pisces: Teleostei) significantly increase small benthic fish diversity of Maltese waters. Mediterranean Marine Science, 20, 287 - 296. https: // doi. org / 10.12681 / mms. 19816","Kovacic, M. & Golani, D. (2006) First record of the Roule's goby, Gobius roulei (Gobiidae), in the Levant. Cybium, 30, 189 - 190. https: // doi. org / 10.26028 / cybium / 2006 - 302 - 013","Le Bris, S. & Louisy, P. (2015) Signalisation de / Record of Gobius roulei, 25 August 2015 (obs. 11 August 2015, photo 760). Fish Watch Forum, Louisy, P. & Francour, P. (Ed.). Available from: https: // www. fish-watch. org (accessed 28 September 2021)","Liu, H. T., Ahnelt, H., Balma, G. A. C. & Delmastro, G. B. (2009 b) First record of Gobius roulei (Gobiidae) in the Ligurian Sea. Cybium, 33, 253 - 254. https: // doi. org / 10.26028 / cybium / 2009 - 333 - 011","Lipej, L., Bonaca, M. O. & Richter, M. (2005) New contributions to the marine coastal fish fauna of Slovenia. Annales, Series Historia Naturalis, 15 (2), 165."]}

Gobius gasteveni Miller, 1974 (Fig. 54)—Steven’s Goby Gobius gasteveni Miller, 1974: 468, type locality: England, English Channel, Plymouth. Size. Known adult size about 10–12 cm total length. Morphology. D V–VI + I,12–15; A I,11–14; P 18–22. Medium-sized goby with a moderately long body, and a short snout with a steep profile. Caudal peduncle deep, but lower than body. Dorsal fins of similar height, the first may be slightly higher, with a more or less trapezoid shape, its first spine no shorter than the others. Caudal fin rounded. Scales present on body and on predorsal area, usually visible on photographs at least on body (Miller 1974, 1986). Live coloration. Body light gray to light pink with gold and greenish reflections on the back. Lateral midline with 6 to 11 rectangular, orange to dark brown blotches, some of them usually separated by isolated dark dots surrounded with white (Fig. 54). Lips white, or light gray or gold with white spots. Snout with a well-defined V-shaped line. Cheeks pale or shaded, and then often with a gold sheen and round white spots. An oculoscapular orange stripe starts behind eye and continues above upper pectoral-fin base into an irregular dorsolateral body stripe until top of caudal peduncle (Fig. 54a). Dorsal fins with white spots and white margin in some males, possibly only in Atlantic population. Breeding males dark (Fig. 54b) (Alberto et al. 1999; Renoult et al. 2022). Similar species. Gobius roulei, G. geniporus. Habitat. Infralittoral and circalittoral species, known from 5–120 m depth on soft bottoms with mud, sand, silt, shell or small-stone deposits (Miller 1986; Patzner 2021). Geographic distribution. Eastern Atlantic from Great Britain (Miller 1974) to Madeira and Canary Islands (Miller 1984) and in the western Mediterranean: Alboran and Balearic Islands (Ahnelt & Dorda 2004), southern France (J. Renoult unpublished observation), Gulf of Genoa in Italy (Ahnelt et al. 2011), Malta (Kovačić & Schembri 2019) and Lebanon (Bitar & Badreddine 2021)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 56, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Alberto, L. J., Nieto, P. & Rodriguez Solorzano, M. (1999) Live coloration and diet of Gobius gasteveni (Teleostei: Gobiidae), with a first record from continental Europe. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 40, 77 - 85.","Renoult, J. P., Pillon, R., Kovacic, M. & Louisy, P. (2022) Frontiers in Fishwatching Series - Gobies of North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Gobius and Thorogobius. Les cahiers de la fondation Biotope. [in press]","Patzner, R. A. (2021) Gobiidae. Available from: http: // www. patzner. sbg. ac. at / Gobiidae / GobiidaeSpecies. htm (accessed 1 October 2021)","Miller, P. J. (1984) The gobiid fishes of temperate Macaronesia (eastern Atlantic). Journal of Zoology, London, 204, 363 - 412. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1469 - 7998.1984. tb 02379. x","Ahnelt, H. & Dorda, J. (2004) Gobioid fishes from the north eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean: new records and rarely found species. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 105 B, 5 - 19.","Ahnelt, H., Loffler, J., Balma, G. A. C. & Delmastro, G. B. (2011) On the occurrence of the rare deepwater gobiid fish Gobius gasteveni Miller, 1974 in the western Mediterranean (Italy). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 27, 1128 - 1130. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1439 - 0426.2011.01753. x","Kovacic, M. & Schembri, P. J. (2019) Twelve new records of gobies and clingfishes (Pisces: Teleostei) significantly increase small benthic fish diversity of Maltese waters. Mediterranean Marine Science, 20, 287 - 296. https: // doi. org / 10.12681 / mms. 19816","Bitar, G. & Badreddine, A. (2021) An updated checklist of the marine fishes in Lebanon. An answer to Bariche and Fricke (2020): \" The marine ichthyofauna of Lebanon: an annotated checklist, history, biogeography, and conservation status \". Zootaxa, 5010 (1), 1 - 128. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 5010.1.1"]}

Silhouettea aegyptia (Chabanaud, 1933) (Fig. 72)—Egyptian Goby Gobius lesueuri aegyptius Chabanaud, 1933: 11; type locality: Egypt, Lake Timsah. Size. Attains about 5 cm total length. Morphology. D VI + I,9–11; A I,11–12; P 13–15. Body elongate, its depth 6.0–7.0 in standard length. Head with short snout. Eyes dorsolateral, about upper one-third elevated above dorsal profile of head. Caudal peduncle slender, lower than body depth. First dorsal fin higher than second fin, the first spine longest, slightly prolonged in males, giving the fin a triangular shape. Pelvic fins united to form a disc, reaching origin of anal fin. Caudal fin rounded, slightly shorter than head. Scales on body ctenoid, no scales on head, nape, and prepectoral and prepelvic areas. Scales visible on dead specimens from reticulate pattern of pigmentation along scale edges, visibility on live specimens unknown. Freshly dead coloration. Finely mottled light brown dorsally, grading to white ventrally on head and abdomen, with a midlateral series of 9–10 gray to blackish blotches about eye size or smaller, the first 2 beneath pectoral fin and the last on caudal-fin base, the penultimate being the smallest; most of these blotches are bisected by a vertical, slightly curved, brown-orange line (Fig. 72). A series of similar curved lines below the midlateral row; scattered shorter brownish yellow dashes dorsally. First dorsal fin with three oblique dark crossbands; rays of dorsal three-fourths of caudal fin with aligned small dark dots. Similar species. Pomatoschistus marmoratus, P. microps. Habitat. Inhabits silty sand or mud bottom, generally at depths of less than 1 m. Able to quickly bury itself into the sediment to level of eyes; tolerates a wide range of salinities (Miller & Fouda 1986). Geographic distribution. Originally restricted to the Red Sea. In the Mediterranean, it has been recorded from Ashdod and Bardawil Lagoon (Miller & Fouda 1986; Golani 2021) and Syria (Ali 2018)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 84, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Chabanaud, P. (1933) Sur divers poissons de la mer Rouge et du canal de Suez. Description de deux especes nouvelles. Bulletin de l'Institut Oceanographique, Monaco, 627, 1 - 12.","Miller, P. J. & Fouda, M. M. (1986) Notes on the biology of a Red Sea goby, Silhouettea aegyptia (Chabanaud, 1933) (Teleostei: Gobiidae). Cybium, Paris, 10 (4), 395 - 409.","Golani, D. (2021) An updated checklist of the Mediterranean fishes of Israel, with illustrations of recently recorded species and delineation of Lessepsian migrants. Zootaxa, 4956 (1), 1 - 108. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4956.1.1","Ali, M. (2018) An updated Checklist of Marine fishes from Syria with an emphasis on alien species. Mediterranean Marine Science, 19 (2), 388 - 393. https: // doi. org / 10.12681 / mms. 15850"]}

Trypauchen vagina (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Fig. 1)—Pink Worm Goby Gobius vagina Bloch & Schneider, 1801: 73; type locality: India, Tranquebar [Tharangambadi]. Size. Reaches 23 cm total length. Morphology. D VI, 40–50; A39–47; P 15–20. Body very elongate and laterally compressed. A pouch-like cavity just above operculum. Head laterally compressed with reduced eyes. Dorsal and anal fins low, long and confluent with caudal fin. Pelvic fins fused medially, but connecting membrane between innermost rays emarginated posteriorly (Murdy 2006). Scales on body cycloid, no scales on head. Scales small, visible on body and predorsal area as pattern of pale dots. Fresh coloration. Head and body entirely reddish or pinkish red (Fig. 1a). Similar species. None of Mediterranean Gobiidae. Habitat. Inhabits muddy or silty sand bottom in bays and brackish estuaries at depths of 10–90 m (Murdy 2006; Ergüden et al. 2018). Geographic distribution. Recorded from the Arabian Gulf east to Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, unknown from the Red Sea. In the Mediterranean it has been collected in Israel (Salameh et al. 2010) and Turkey (Ergüden et al. 2018)., Published as part of 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, pp. 1-103 in Zootaxa 5144 (1) on page 87, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5144.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601561, {"references":["Bloch, M. E. & Schneider, J. G. (1801) M. E. Blochii, Systema Ichthyologiae Iconibus cx Ilustratum. Post obitum auctoris opus inchoatum absolvit, correxit, interpolavit Jo. Gottlob Schneider, Saxo. Sumtibus Auctoris Impressum et Bibliopolio Sanderiano Commissum, Berolini, ix + 584 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 5750","Murdy, E. O. (2006) A revision of the gobiid fish genus Trypauchen (Gobiidae: Amblyopinae). Zootaxa, 1343 (1), 55 - 68. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 1343.1.3","Erguden, D., Kabakli, F., Alagoz Erguden, S. & Altun, A. (2018) Occurrence of the Burrowing goby Trypauchen vagina (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) in Southeastern Mediterranean, Turkey. International Journal of Veterinary and Animal Research, 1 (3), 16 - 18.","Salameh, P., Sonin, O. & Golani, D. (2010) First record of the Burrowing goby Trypauchen vagina (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Amblyopinae) in the Mediterranean. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 40 (2), 109 - 111. https: // doi. org / 10.3391 / ai. 2011.6. S 1.004"]}