Author: (Nordmann, 1840)
Neogobius syrman (Nordmann, 1840)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Neogobius syrman (Nordmann, 1840) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: nape scaled completely, scales of middle and rear nape ctenoid. Head depth 1.1-1.2 width. Inter-orbit equal to eye diameter. Angle of jaws below anterior part of pupil. Snout 1.3-1.4 orbit. Upper lip of uniform width, about half lateral preorbital area. Pelvic disc twothirds, or slightly more, abdomen length, anterior membrane with very shallow, rounded, lateral lobes. Caudal peduncle depth about half own length. Dl VI (V-VII); D2 I + 16-18 (15-19); A I + 12-14 (11-15); P 18-20 (17-21). Scales in lateral series 59-67 (57-70). Vertebrae 34-35 (33-36). Colour: pale grey to yellowish-brown with large grey-brown spots in staggered rows; first dorsal fin with pale upper edge, above more or less evident dark stripe, males with darker markings. Size: to 22 cm (Black Sea).
Habitat: inshore, on shelly ground, sand, muddy sand or mud; in slightly brackish and may enter freshwaters. Food: crustaceans (mysids, corophiid amphipods), small fish (gobies), bivalves, polychaetes, chironomid larvae. Reproduction: March to beginning of May (Lakes Mandra and Burgas, Bulgaria), repeat spawning (twice); May to beginning of June (Sea of Azov). Eggs beneath and between stones. Sexually mature at 1 or 2 years. Lifespan: to four years.
Distribution: estuaries of Black Sea, Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Maiskii, 1963: 96.