ISSN 0032-9452, Journal of Ichthyology, 2018, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 425–427. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2018.

Original Russian Text © V.V. Shaganov, A.V. Koulish, 2018, published in Voprosy Ikhtiologii, 2018, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 373–375.

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On the Occurrence of Small-Headed Clingfish Apletodon dentatus

(Gobiesocidae) off the Southeastern Coast of Crimea (Black Sea)
V. V. Shaganova, * and A. V. Koulisha
aKerch State Maritime Technological University, Kerch, Russia
*e-mail: vshaganov@yandex.ru
Received January 18, 2017

Abstract—Information on the distribution of small-headed clingfish Apletodon dentatus (Gobiesocidae),

which is a rare species in the Black Sea, off the southeastern coast of the Crimean Peninsula is presented along
with morphological characteristics of the sampled individuals.

Keywords: small-headed clingfish Apletodon dentatus, morphology, southeastern Crimea

DOI: 10.1134/S0032945218020145

Small-headed clingfish Apletodon dentatus (Facci-

olà, 1887) is a rare and poorly studied representative of
fam. Gobiesocidae. This marine demersal species
dwells at depths of 0.5−14.0 m using boulders, sea
urchins, and overgrowths of algae and marine grasses
as substrates (Hofrichter and Patzner, 2000;
Gonçalves et al., 2002). The species’ range includes
the Eastern Atlantic off France’s and Great Britain’s
coasts and the Mediterranean and Marmara seas; in (a)
the Black Sea, this fish was recorded in the coastal
waters of Romania, Turkey (Bat et al., 2006; Vasilyeva,
2007), and southwestern Crimea (Karpova et al.,
2015). Near the southeastern Crimean coast, small-
headed clingfish was not found earlier (Salekhova
et al., 1987; Salekhova and Kostenko, 1989; Kostenko
and Shaganov, 2004; Shaganov, 2009).
In the present communication, we present a
description of two specimens of A. dentatus, found in
the coastal zone of southeastern Crimea for the first (b)
time. The fish were sampled in 1995 and 2016 in
course of ichthyological monitoring.
Four species of clingfishes inhabit the Black Sea
(Vasilyeva, 2007). Species of the clingfishes sampled
off the southeastern Crimean coast (Figs. 1, 2) were
identified based on the following diagnostic features:
teeth in the front part of jaws have the shape of small
incisors with several curved cuspidate teeth behind;
first ray of the anal fin is situated either anterior of the
second ray of the dorsal fin or beneath it (Hayward
and Ryland, 1995; Vasilyeva, 2007).
The first specimen of small-headed clingfish was
caught on May 2, 1995, off the southern part of Kerch
Peninsula near Cape Opuk (45°2′ N, 36°15′ E) (Fig. 3). (c)
The fish was found on the lower guard rope of a gill net Fig. 1. Small-headed clingfish Apletodon dentatus, SL 14.2 mm,
at a depth of approximately 10 m. Total length (TL) of Provato Cove, off southeastern Crimean coast, Black Sea.
this specimen 38 mm; standard length (SL) 30 mm; Views: (a) top, (b) side, (c) bottom.

425
426 SHAGANOV, KOULISH
Fig. 2. Small-headed clingfish Apletodon dentatus, SL 30 mm, Cape Opuk, off southern coast of the Kerch Peninsula, Black Sea.
Views: (a) top, (b) side, (c) bottom.
number of rays in dorsal fin (D) 7; in anal fin (A) 5; in
pectoral fin (P), 23. Head length (c) 3.1 times SL;
maximal body height (Н) 6 times SL; length of secto-
rial disc (lV) 4.2 times SL. Measured parameters, % of
SL: H 16.7; height of caudal stem (h) 11.7; antedorsal
distance (aD) 80.0; anteanal fistance (aA) 83.3;
lV 23.3; width of sectorial disc (wV) 21.7; length of dor-
sal fin base (lD) 21.7; length of pectoral fin (lP) 16.7;
length of anal fin base (lA) 13.3; с 31.7; in % of с: height
Crimean peninsula Kerch
peninsula
Opuk Cape
Provato Cove
BLACK SEA
Fig. 3. Sites of finding (→) of small-headed clingfish
Apletodon dentatus.
JOURNAL OF ICHTHYOLOGY
(a)
(b)
(c)
of head at occiput (Hc) 59.0; height of head across
center of eye (hc) 42.1; width of head (wc) 84.2; hori-
zontal diameter of eye (o) 15.8; postocular distance
(po) 63.2; width of frons (io), 36.8; length of the snout
(ao) 21.1. Color of this specimen preserved and stored
in 4% formaldehyde solution is light orange.
The second specimen was caught by hydrobiologi-
cal hand sack (1 mm mesh) on October 16, 2016, at
Provato Cove (44°57′ N, 35°21′ E) (Fig. 3). The sam-
pling was performed at the border of the sandy bottom
and the vertical wall of a concrete breakwater covered
with brown alga Cystoseira crinita, at the depth of 0.5 m,
water temperature 16°С. TL 16.2 mm, SL 14.2 mm.
D 8, A 7, P 21. Length of head 2.8 times SL; Н 5.6
times; lV 4.3 times. Measurements in % of SL: H 17.8;
h 10.0; aD 66.8; aA 75.2; lV 23.2; wV 18.8; lD 17.9;
lP 15.5; lA 24.0; c 35.3; in % of с: Hc 51.8; hc 43.8;
wc 69.7; o 27.8; po 49.8; io 28.4; ao 23.1. Intravital body
color bright green, lower part of head whitish; small
white spots spread over body; green vertical bands sit-
uated at bases of rays of dorsal and anal fins.
Morphological features of small-headed clingfish
of the southeastern Crimean coastal waters corre-
spond in general to the data published earlier (Briggs,
1986; Karpova et al., 2015). The number of rays in the
dorsal fin in these fish is closest to the number in the
fish from the southwestern Crimea coastal waters. As
was noted in the latter fish from the region near Sevas-
topol, the number of rays is 7–8; 8 near Tarhankut
Vol. 58 No. 3 2018
 ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SMALL-HEADED CLINGFISH Apletodon dentatus
Peninsula (Karpova et al., 2015). The number of rays
in the anal and pectoral fins fits the diapasons noted
for this species: А 5−7; Р 21−24 (Briggs, 1986). In
head length, the fish of southeastern Crimean waters
are similar to the fish sampled near Sevastopol, whose
length is 2.9–3.3 times SL. The body height and length
of sectorial disc correspond to the data by Briggs
(Briggs, 1986), according to which Н is 5.5–6.1 times
SL, 3.6–4.6 times lV. Inconsiderable differences in the
values of some morphometric parameters in the ana-
lyzed specimens relate to differences in their sizes and
ages: the specimen from Provato Cove is a juvenile
fish, while that from the waters near Cape Opuk is an
adult individual.
Finding of small-headed clingfish off the coast of
southeastern Crimea indicates wider than it was
believed before distribution of this species in the Black
Sea basin (Vasilyeva, 2007; Karpova et al., 2015). In
addition, finding of A. dentatus off the southern part of
the Kerch Peninsula near Cape Opuk in 1995 evi-
dences to much earlier appearance of this species in
the Crimean coastal waters than was noted based on its
findings in 2013 in the southwestern area (Tarkhankut
Peninsula, Cape Malyi Atlesh) and in 2014 (Sevasto-
pol, Streletskaya Cove) (Karpova et al., 2015).
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Translated by D. Pavlov