The monkey goby ( Neogobius fluviatilis) is a species of goby native to the basins of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Characteristics
The monkey goby is covered with
on the head, nape, back, one third of the gill covers, bases of the
, and the posterior half of the throat and belly. Its second
dorsal fin is small in size compared to the posterior end of the body. The width of its head is equal to or a bit greater than the height of the head, and terminates in an acuminated, or leaf-shaped, snout. The jaws of
Neogobius fluviatilis contain small, conical teeth and the
are set forward in the skull. The abdomen of the monkey goby is lined with suckers that stretch from the collar to the anus. Its coloration is a brownish gray or a yellowish gray, usually with a very pale brown pattern of dark merged spots. Rows of dark spots are also found on the dorsal and
. The average adult monkey goby measures 7–10 centimeters, but has been known to grow to lengths of 18–20 centimeters. This species weighs around 50 grams.
Range
The natural
habitat of the monkey goby is the
freshwater and
of basins in the
Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
In the basin of the Sea of Marmara, it is a common sight in Manyas,
Lake Sapanca, and the
Kazoli River in
Bosporus Strait.
In the Black Sea and the surrounding areas, the monkey goby is common in all desalinated water including the
Danube river and its
tributaries, the
and
estuaries of the north-western part of the
Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the rivers of
Caucasus.
Recently, the monkey goby has been registered as an
invasive species in some countries of
Europe. In 1970, the species was first declared as a non-indigenous in
Lake Balaton in
Hungary.
[Bíro P. (1971) Neogobius fluviutilis in Lake Balaton - a Ponto-Caspian goby new to the fauna of central Europe. J. Fish Biol., 4: 249–255.[1]] The monkey goby was discovered in the Middle Danube in Hungary in 1984.
[Pintér K. (1989) Fishes of Hungary. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 202 pp.] In 2001 it was found to have spread to the
Slovakia-Hungarian sector of the Danube River.
[Stráňai I., Andeji J. (2001) Monkey goby – (so far) the last invasing species from the gobiids family. Polovnictvo a rybárstvo (Bratislava), 53: 44–45.] In the basin of the
Baltic Sea it was first registered as an invasive species in 1997.
[Danilkiewicz Z. (1998) Babka szczupła, Neogobius fluviatilis (Pallas, 1811), Perciformes, Gobiidae – nowy, pontyjski element w ichtiofaunie zlewiska Morza Bałtyckiego. Fragm. Faun., 41(21): 269–277.] The species has also become a common sight in the Włocławek Reservoir and
Zegrze Reservoir.
[Kostrzewa J., Grabowski M. (2002) Babka szczupła, Neogobius fluviatilis (Pallas, 1814), w Wiśle - fenomen inwazji pontokaspijskich Gobiidae. Przegl. Zool., 46(3-4): 235–242.]
The monkey goby has been found in the
Germany part of the
river Rhine since March 2009. It has also been found in the
Waal River, near
Nijmegen, the
Netherlands.
[van Kessel N., Dorenbosch M., Spikmans F. (2009) First record of Pontian monkey goby, Neogobius fluviatilis (Pallas, 1814), in the Dutch Rhine. Aquatic Invasions, 4(2): 421–424.[2]]
In August 2011 the monkey goby is registered for the first time in the Evros River (Greece), which is inflows to the Aegean Sea.[Zogaris S., Apostolou A. (2011) First record of Pontian Monkey Goby, Neogobius fluviatilis (Pallas, 1814) in the Evros River (Greece); is it an alien species? Mediterranean Marine Science, 12(2): 454–461.]
Feeding
The monkey goby belongs to the group known as
, but
molluscs have lower importance in its diet than in that of the
round goby.
[Andriyashev A.R., Arnoldi L.V. (1945) O biologiipitaniya nekotoryh donnyh ryb Chernogo morya. Zhurn. obshch. biol., 6(1): 53–61. (in Russian)] However, in the Sea of Azov
molluscs (mainly
Abra segmentum) make up 85% of its diet.
[Lus V.Ya. (1963) Pitaniye bychkov (sem. Gobiidae) Azovskogo morya. Trudy Instituta okeanologii, 62: 96–127. (in Russian)] In the Gulf of Tendra its diet is dominated by
polychaetes, the
larvae of
Chironomidae,
molluscs,
Cerastoderma, juvenile
gobies, adult
Marbled goby, and
such as
Amphipoda and
shrimp.
[Borisenko A.M. (1946) Kolichestvennyj uchet donnoy fauny Tendrovskogo zaliva: Abstract of PhD Thesis, Karadag, 18 p. (in Russian)] In the
Danube Delta lakes
Yalpug Lake and
Kugurluy, the diet of the monkey goby consists of amphipods, molluscs, and
Oligochaeta.
[Grinbart S.B. (1964) Zhivlennia bentosoyidnyh ryb i kormovi resursy zoobentosu lymaniv (Yalpuh, Kugurluy) In: Tezy dop. I resp. konf. VGBT, 9, Kiev, Naukova Dumka, pp. 68–69. (in Ukrainian)]
In the Khadzhibey Estuary a dozen species of prey make up the diet of monkey goby.[Kudrenko S., Kvach Y. (2005) Diet composition of two gobiid species in the Khadzhibey Estuary (North-Western Black Sea, Ukraine). Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici, Limnological Papers, 24: 61–68.] Polychaetes, larvae of insects, and shrimp are present in the diet year round. Seasonal dietary additions include crabs such as Rhithropanopeus harrisii, sea weed such as Zostera marina, and amphipods such as Marinogammarus olivii. Certain are also present in the diet of adult gobies.
Parasites
In the northwestern
Black Sea, twelve parasite species are known to infect the monkey goby.
[Kvach Y. (2005) A comparative analysis of helminth faunas and infection of ten species of gobiid fishes (Actinopterigii: Gobiidae) from the North-Western Black Sea. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 35(2): 103–110.[4]] The core of the parasitic fauna are a trio
metacercariae composed of
Сryptocotyle concavum,
Сryptocotyle lingua, and
Рygidiopsis genata. Other common parasites include the
nematode Dichelyne minutus and the
cestoda Ligula pavlovskii. The trematode parasites
C. lingua and
P. genata can also infest humans.
[Youssef M.M., Mansour N.S., Awadalla H.N., Hammouda N.A., Khalifa R., Boulos L.M. (1987) Heterophyid parasite of man from Idku, Maryat and Manzala Lakes areas in Egypt. J. Egypt. Soc. Parasitol., 17: 474–479.][Zimmerman M.R., Smith G.S. (1975) A probable case of occidental inhumation of 1600 years ago. Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med., 51(7): 828–837.] In the 1950s, along the coast of the Gulf of Taganrog in the Sea of Azov, the monkey goby was registered as a host of
epizootic of
nematodes Tetrameres fissispina and
Streptocara crassicauda, which are fatal to
ducklings.
[Kovalenko I.I. (1960) Izucenie cikla razvitiâ nekotoryh gel'mintov domasnih utok v hozâjstvah na Azovskom poberez'e. Doklady AN SSSR, 133(5): 1259–1261.(In Russian)]
Importance
In
Ukraine the monkey goby is a crucial commercial fish, especially in the Sea of Azov and Dnieper-Bug Estuary. It plays an important role in the food chain by serving as prey for other predatory fish living in these areas.
Further reading
