Morphological variability and species structure of tubenose gobies of genus Proterorhinus (Gobiidae) of the Black Sea, their diagnostic characters, and distribution patterns within the basin

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Abstract

On the basis of morphological studies of museum collections based on preliminary analysis of genetically identified samples, a system of species diagnostic characters and a key for identification of three Black Sea species of tubenose gobies (genus Proterorhinus) were developed. These species, the validity of which is confirmed by the data of molecular genetic analysis, are very similar in external morphology and are differentiated by a set of characters, the most important of which are the number of branched rays in the second dorsal and anal fins, the length of the base of the second dorsal and anal fins, and the distance from the anterior tip of the snout to the origin of the second dorsal and anal fins as a percentage of the standard body length. Of the three species of tubenose gobies, P. victori has the narrowest distribution range, found only in rivers and lakes of the eastern coast of the Black Sea in Georgia and Abkhazia. P. marmoratus is distributed along the entire northern coast of the Black Sea from Bulgaria in the west to Georgia in the east. The modern range of P. semilunaris includes the basins of the Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Maritsa, and Struma rivers, and, due to invasions and accidental introduction, also the basins of the Rhine and Vistula rivers, a number of water bodies in the Crimea, and the Great Lakes system in United States; haplotypes of this species have been identified in rivers of Georgia and Abkhazia. The observed euryhalinity of species, their preference for freshwater or marine and brackish-water habitats are discussed in connection with the presumed species-specificity of breeding special features.

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About the authors

E. D. Vasil’eva

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: vas_katerina@mail.ru

Zoological Museum

Russian Federation, Moscow

V. P. Vasil’ev

Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vas_katerina@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. Proterorhinus marmoratus, males from the ZMMU collection: a – P-4283 SL 71.4 mm, Black Sea, Sevastopol; б, в – P-21347 SL 52.0 and 52.5 mm, Chernaya River, Crimea; г — P-22155 SL 52.2 mm, Black Sea near the mouth of the Chernaya River, Crimea; д — P-16839 SL 49.7 mm, Kelasuri River.

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3. Fig. 2. Proterorhinus semilunaris, males from the ZMMU collection: a – P-18540 SL 48.7 mm, Murafa River, Dniester River basin; б – P-21356 SL 67.0 mm, Alma River, Crimea.

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