Beach goby
| Beach goby | ||||||||||||
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Beach goby ( Pomatoschistus microps ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pomatoschistus microps | ||||||||||||
| ( Krøyer , 1838) |
The beach or mud goby ( Pomatoschistus microps ) is a marine fish that occurs on the coasts of the northeast Atlantic from Morocco and the Canary Islands to the coasts of the British Isles to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea (not in the Gulf of Bothnia ) and in the western Mediterranean .
features
Beach gobies are six to a maximum of nine centimeters long. They are brownish-gray in color. Main features to distinguish it from other species of goby are a triangular, dark spot on the upper part of the pectoral fin base and a black spot at the end of the first, hard-radiating dorsal fin. The first dorsal fin is supported by 6 to 8 fin rays, the second dorsal fin, separated by a gap, by 8 to 11 soft rays. The anal fin has one hard and 7 to 10 soft rays. The number of vertebrae is 30 to 32. There are 39 to 52 scales along the sideline . The back of the fish is only scaled from the base of the first dorsal fin.
Way of life
Beach gobies live near the coast from the water surface to a depth of twelve meters. They prefer brackish water , but also go in fresh and sea water. They feed on small crustaceans, worms, mosquito larvae and mites.
Reproduction
Beach gobies spawn in summer, the eggs are laid under mussel shells. The brood is guarded by the male until the larvae hatch after nine days. The larvae initially live pelagically in open water. The juvenile fish move on to bottom life when they are 11 to 12 millimeters in size. When they are about 3.5 centimeters long, they become sexually mature.
literature
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
- Hans A. Baensch , Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 7 Perciformes (perch-like) , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1998, ISBN 3-88244-107-0 .
Web links
- Beach goby on Fishbase.org (English)
- Pomatoschistus microps inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Van Tassell, JL, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2013.