Black goby
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Black goby ( Gobius niger ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gobius niger | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The black goby ( Gobius niger ) is a small marine fish that occurs on the European Atlantic coast (south of Trondheim ), in the North Sea, in the southern Baltic Sea (not in the Gulf of Bothnia ), in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea . It inhabits seaweed and algae in estuaries , lagoons and near-shore waters. The fish feeds on a wide variety of invertebrates and sometimes small fish.
The fish becomes a maximum of 18 cm ( TL ) long. The neck of the fish is scaled and its two dorsal fins have a black spot on their front end.
description
In contrast to its conspecifics, the beach goby , the sand goby and the swimming goby , the width-to-length ratio of the black goby is oriented more towards the width. It also has a rounder mouth and is generally larger. Their dorsal fins are almost continuous, the front has six vertebrae, which may protect the dorsal fin membrane, and the rear has soft rays. The rear dorsal fin ends just before the tail stalk in contrast to the beach and sand gobies, where there is a long gap. The pelvic fins are united. The color is always a shade of brown with indefinite black spots. The color of the male becomes almost black during the breeding season, only his dorsal fins become more transparent. The average size of the fish is between 5 and 7 cm.
Occurrence and habitat
The black goby lives in the shallow waters of the East Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea. Its distribution area extends from Ras Nouadhibou in Mauritania to Trondheim in Norway and includes the Baltic Sea . It lives at depths less than 50 meters. Their typical habitat are lagoons, estuaries and waters close to the banks. They populated sandy or muddy substrates or lives between seaweed or kelp . In addition, it is sometimes found in fresh water .
Way of life
The black goby feeds on small invertebrates on the ocean floor. Their reproduction takes place in summer, in which the male delimits a territory in a shallow grassy area and prepares a nest on a clean piece of the sea bed, after which this invites a female to inspect, whereupon the male, with the consent of the female and subsequent egg laying, protects the eggs until they hatch.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c " Gobius niger " on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ a b Black goby: Gobius niger (L.). NatureGate, accessed December 18, 2013 .