Author: (Krøyer, 1838)
Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis. lateral line system with sub-orbital row a having 1 transverse row; row b ending anteriorly below posterior half of eye; transverse rows below level of row b not descending through or behind row d; head canals with no pore C3 on anterior oculoscapular canal but pore o on preopercular canal. Eyes dorsolateral. Branchiostegal membrane attached to entire side of isthmus. Predorsal area, back to at least end of first dorsal fin base, and breast, naked. Pelvic disc anterior membrane with crenate rear edge. Caudal fin rounded. Dl VI (V-VII); D2 I + 89 (8-11); A I + 8-9 (7-10); P 17-19 (15-20). Scales in lateral series 39-52. Vertebrae 31 (30-32). Colour: grey to fawn, with pale saddles across back and coarse, dark reticulation; adult males with up to 1O vertical dark bars across sides, proximal dark spot on rear of first dorsal fin, dark breast and underside of head (tinged orange); females lack dark chin blotch. Size: to 6.4 cm.
Habitat: inshore and intertidal, in brackish waters of estuaries, saltmarshes, and upper intertidal pools. Food: small crustaceans (gammarid and corophiid amphipods, isopod Jaera, copepods mysids), worms, chironomid larvae and mites. Reproduction: April-August (Isle of Man; Baltic Sea); repeat spawning. Eggs 0.7-1.20 x 0.65-0.8 mm, on underside of empty bivalve shells or stones; hatch at 3-3.2 mm, in from 19 days at 12.5 °C to 6 days at 20 °C. Fecundity 650- 3,400 at 2.9-4.65 cm. Sexually mature at 7 months to 1 year. Lifespan: 1.6-2 years.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic (Trondheim fjord, Norway, and Baltic Sea to southern Portugal) and north-western Mediterranean. Also Atlantic Morocco (Brownell, 1978).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Petersen, 1891: 3, pl. 1a (fig. 10), pl. 1b (fig. 11) | Guitel, 1892: 499, pl. 22 (fig. 7) | Petersen, 1919: 54, pl. 1 (fig. 1-5), pl. 2 (fig. 1-3) | Lebour, 1919b: 64, pl. 1 (fig. 6), pl. 2 (fig. 2); 1920: 256, pl. 2 | Padoa, 1953: 661, fig. 540 543.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.