Author: (Kawrajsky in Berg, 1916)
Knipowitschia caucasica (Kawrajsky in Berg, 1916)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Knipowitschia caucasica (Berg, 1916) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: Iateral line system with posterior oculoscapular canal. Back naked to origin of second dorsal fin. Dl VI (V-VII); D2 I + 8 (7-10); A I + 8 (7-10); P 15-17 (15-18). Scales in lateral series 33-35 (31-38). Vertebrae 31-32 (30-33). Colour: body greyish to fawn; adult male with 4 or 5 vertical dark bars across sides; female with intense black chin spot; first dorsal fin with dark band, especially in female. Size: to 5 cm.
Habitat: fresh to hypersaline waters (to 55 ppt) of lakes, estuaries and lagoons, in shallows with much weed. Food: small crustaceans (harpacticoid copepods, amphipods) and chironomid larvae. Reproduction: March to end of luly (Varna, Black Sea), April-June (Caspian Sea). Eggs 1.65-2.5 x 0.58-0.85 mm, on underside of Cardium or Anodonta valves, and stones, sometimes on plant roots or stems. Hatch at 3.0-3.8 mm. Sexually mature at 8-10 months, 2.0-2.2 cm. Fecundity 220-500 at 2 4.5 cm SL. Lifespan: less than 2 years.
Distribution: rivers, estuaries and lagoons of Black Sea, Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea; also Mediterranean, in northern Adriatic and Aegean. Introduced into Aral Sea.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Kazanova, 1951 | Vodyanitzky and Kazanova, 1954: fig. 58 (3 fig.) | Koblitskaya, 1961: 253, fig. 2 | Georghiev, 1966: 174, fig. 12.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.