Flatsnout goby

Flatsnout goby
Flatsnout goby from Caucasus, Black Sea
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Gobiidae
Subfamily:	Benthophilinae
Genus:	Ponticola
Species:	P. platyrostris
Binomial name
Ponticola platyrostris (Pallas, 1814)
Synonyms
Gobius platyrostris Pallas, 1814 Neogobius platyrostris (Pallas, 1814)

The flatsnout goby (Ponticola platyrostris) is a species of goby endemic to the Black Sea where it is mostly known from inshore waters amongst rocks and boulders. It is occasionally found offshore over areas with gravel substrates. This species can reach a length of 22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) TL.^[1]

Range

Native to the north-western and north-eastern parts of the Black Sea (without limans), near the coasts of Crimea, in some parts of the Sea of Azov.^[2] In the eastern part of the Black Sea it occurs from the Kerch Strait along all the coast of Caucasus to Batumi.^[3] Within the rivers it has been recorded from the Southern Bug.^[4]

References

1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). "Ponticola platyrostris" in FishBase. June 2013 version.
2. Smirnov A.I. (1986) Perch-likes (gobiids), scorpionfishes, flatfishes, clingfishes, anglerfishes [in:] Fauna of Ukraine, Vol. 8, No 5, Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 320 pp. (in Russian)
3. Miller P.J. (1986) Gobiidae. In: Whitehead P.J.P., Bauchot M.-L., Hureau J.-C., Nielsen J., Tortonese E. (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Vol. 3. UNESCO, Paris.
4. Movchan Yu.V., Pankov A.V., Rabtsevych Yu.Ye. (2002) Znakhidky novyh vydiv ryb v seredniy ta verkhniy techiyi Pivdennogo Bugu. Vestnik Zoologii, 36(5): 85—88.