Pinchuk's goby (''Ponticola cephalargoides'') is a species of goby native to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

and the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

Characteristics

The body of adults is prolonged, not very high. Only juveniles have high and short body. Сaudal peduncle is very high (highest between al representatives of

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Ponticola ''Ponticola'' is a genus of gobies native mostly to fresh waters of the Black Sea - Caspian Sea region in Eurasia. Some species occur in the brackish-water Black and Caspian seas themselves. It was considered to be part of the broader goby subfam ...

''), short and flattened from sides (its high is equal its length). The scales on the caudal peduncle are not very big.

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

is flattened from sides, snout profile is round, cheeks are round. Superior lip is broad, relatively short.

Premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has b ...

short (especially in juveniles), with sparse strong lips. First

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

is rounded, has a narrow yellow-orange stripe on the edge. This species can reach a length of NG.

Range

In the northwestern and northeastern parts of the

, also in some parts of the

.Miller P.J. (1986) Gobiidae. In: Whitehead P.J.P., Bauchot M.-L., Hureau J.-C., Nielsen J., Tortonese E. (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Vol. 3. UNESCO, Paris. Habits same habitats with the ratan goby ''Ponticola ratan''. With the flatsnout goby ''Ponticola platyrostris'' is separated geographically.

References

Ponticola Fish of Europe Fish of the Black Sea Fish described in 1976 {{Gobiidae-stub