Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1767)

Iftime, Alexandru & Oţel, Vasile, 2025, An annotated systematical checklist of the Romanian ichthyofauna, Zootaxa 5654 (1), pp. 1-64 : 21

Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1767)

A native marine species, rarely found along the Romanian Black Sea waters; claimed to occur all along ( Bănărescu 1964; Vasil’eva 2007; Maximov & Zaharia 2010; Yankova et al. 2014; Niță et al. 2022), but a quite rare species, being absent in the Danube Delta marine sector (not recorded in the data of Oțel 2007); the specimens in the collection of the “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History, previously determined as pertaining to this species, were in fact P. marmoratus . Found in neighbouring waters of Ukraine ( Manilo 2020) and Bulgaria ( Vasilev et al. 2012); one specimen photographed underwater by us at Mangalia can be identified, at least provisionally (cf. Kovačić et al. 2022) as P. minutus ( Fig. 3 —as compared with P. marmoratus ).

Fam. Gobiidae

Aphia minuta (Risso, 1810)

A native marine species, found along all Romanian Black Sea waters ( Bănărescu 1964; Abaza et al. 2005; Oțel 2007; Vasil’eva 2007; Radu et al. 2008; Yankova et al. 2014; Cocan & MireȘan 2018; Niță et al. 2022).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Pomatoschistus minutus, photographed underwater at Mangalia, Black Sea, 2023, photoAl. Iftime.A: lateral view, showing snout longer than eye diameter, T-shaped blotch on caudal fin base; B: dorsal view of the same specimen, showing (barely visible) scalation before the first dorsal; C: P. marmoratus, same location and year, photo Al. Iftime, showing eye diameter larger than snout length, dark chin patch.