Common names: English: Bucchichi's goby
German: Bucchichi-Grundel

Common synonyms: none.

Length: 8 - 10 cm.

Colouration
Yellowish brown to grey with dark spots (forming partly broken longitudinal lines). Belly usually not spotted.

Description
Anterior nostrils with short tentacles, sometimes bifurcated. Similar to G. incognitus and G. fallax. Praedorsal area and nape scaled.
50-56 scales in lateral series.
Fins: D1 VI; D2 I+14 (13-14); A I+13 (12-14); P 19-20 (18-20).

Please note
Informations of this species are mixed with those on G. incognitus. Very probably most informations published on G. bucchichi belong to G. incognitus. Therefore literature given here concerning food and reproduction belong to G. incognitus.

Food
No informations, probably carnivorous; crustaceans, polychaets, molluscs.

Reproduction
No informations. Reproductive behaviour: goby pattern.

Habitat
1 - 8 m. Rocky shores, on sand only when it is mixed with the hard substratum.

Distribution
Adriatic Sea. Rcently also in Greece (Roberto Pillon). Further distribution has to be checked. Maybe also Black Sea.

Literature on Gobius bucchichi

Note: Probably most (or all) literature on Gobius bucchichi refers to G. incognitus.

Abel E.F., 1960: Liaison facultative d'un poisson (Gobius bucchichii Steindachner) d'une anemone (Anemonia sulcata Penn.) en Mediterranee. Vie et Milieu 11: 517-531.

Ahnelt H., 1984: Zur Kenntnis von Gobius bucchichi Steindacher, 1870 und Gobius fallax Sarato, 1889 (Pisces, Gobiidae). Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 86: 1-5.

Al-Hassan L.A.J. & El-Silini O.A., 1999: Check-list of bony fishes collected from the Mediterranean coast of Benghazi, Libya. Rev. Biol. Mar. Ocean 34: 291-301.

Bath H., 1971: Wiederbeschreibung und Verbreitung von Gobius fallax Sarato 1889 und Vergleich mit Gobius bucchichii Steindacher 1870 (Pisces: Gobioidei: Gobiidae). Senckenberg. Biol. 52 211-218.

Bilecenoglu M., Taskavak E., Mater S. & Kaya M., 2002: Checklist of the marine fishes of Turkey. Zootaxa 113: 1-194.

Bilecenoglu M. & Yokes M. B. & M. Draman (2019): The invasive sea urchin Diadema setosum provides shelter for coastal fish - first observations from the Mediterranean Sea. Zoology in the Middle East 65: 183-185.

Boucherau J.-L. & O. Guelorget, 1999 : Régime alimentaire de deux Gobiidae (Pisces; Teleostei) sympatriques Gobius buchichi Steindachner, 1870, et Millerigobius macrocephalus (Kolombatovic, 1891) des Bouches de Bonifacio (Corse, France). Cah. Biol. Mar. 40: 263 – 271.

Bracun S., 2011: Verhaltensexperimente zur Standortwahl der Anemonengrundel (Gobius bucchichi). Bachelorarbeit Univ. Konstanz: 1-71.

Brummer T., 1986: Bei Gefahr: Flucht in die "Brennessel". Blumentiere und Anemonengrundel im Aquarium. Aqu. Mag. 9: 365-367.

Brummer T., 1994: Vergesellschaftung von Streifengrundel und Wachsrose - nur eine regionale Erscheinung? DATZ 47: 779-780.

Francour P., Bodilis P., Cottalorda J.M., Seytre C. 2010. Inventaire des Gobiidae dans la Réserve Naturelle de Scandola (Corse) et à proximité de ses limites. Contrat Parc Naturel Régional de la Corse. Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, ECOMERS publ., Nice: 1-54.

Collignon J., 1979: Calalogue raisonne des poissons des mers Marocaines 4. Partie. Bull. Inst. Pech. Mar. Maroc 24: 83-155:

Gordina A.D., 1973: New data on the biology and development of Gobius bucchichi Steindachner (Gobiidae, Pisces) in the Black Sea. J. Ichthyol. 13 152-155.

Gordina A.D., L.A. Duka & L.S. Oven, 1974: Sexual dimorphism, feeding and reproduction of Gobius bucchichi in the Black Sea. J. Ichthyol. 14: 623-629.

Kovacic M., 2005: An annotated checklist of the family Gobiidae in the Adriatic Sea. Annales Ser. hist. nat. 15: 1-24.

Kovacic M., 2020: Checklist of gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae) of the Mediterranean Sea and a key for species identification. Zootaxa 4877: 075-101.

Kovacic M., Miletic M. & Papageorgiou N., 2011: A first checklist of gobies from Crete with ten new records. Cybium 35: 245-253.

Kovacic M. & Patzner R.A., 2011: North-Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Gobies. In: The Biology of Gobies. (Eds: Patzner R.A. et al.) Science Publishers: 177-206.

Kovacic M., Patzner R.A. & Schliewen U., 2012: A first quantitative assessment of the ecology of cryptobenthic fishes in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar. Biol. 159: 2731-2742.

Kramer A., Kovacic M. & Patzner R.A., 2012: Dentition of eight species of Mediterranean Sea Gobiidae: do dentition characters of gobies reflect phylogenetic relationships? Journal of Fish Biology 80: 29-48.

Kovacic M. & R. Sanda, 2016. A new species of Gobius (Perciformes: Gobiidae) from the Mediterranean Sea and the redescription of Gobius bucchichi. J. Fish Biol. 88: 1104-1124.

Lombarte A., Miletic M. & Kovacic M. et al., 2014: Identifying Mediterranean Sea gobies using otoliths. 5th Int. symp. fish otolith res. appl., Peguera, Mallorca: Poster.

Miller P.J., 1986: Gobiidae. In: Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Volume III. (Eds.: Whitehead P.J.P. et al.) pp. 1019-1085. UNESCO, Paris.

Patzner R.A., 1999: Sea urchins as hiding-place for juvenile benthic teleosts (Gobiidae, Gobiesocidae) in the Mediterranean Sea. Cybium 23: 93-97.

Patzner R.A. & H. Moosleitner, 1997: Die Grundeln des Mittelmeeres. Teil 2. Große Grundeln des Hartbodens 1. Das Aquarium 335: 38-41.

Pölzer W., 1994: Beitrag zur Biologie der mediterranen Anemonengrundel Gobius bucchichii Steindachner, 1870 (Teleostei, Gobiidae) mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nahrungs-, Fortpflanzungs- und Verhaltensbiologie. MSc. Thesis, Univ. Salzburg.

Pölzer W., 1996: Der Anemonenfisch im Mittelmeer. Gobius bucchichii. DATZ 49: 233-234.

Pölzer W., 2000: Anemonenfische im Mittelmeer? Koralle 1: 60-62.

Pölzer W. & R.A. Patzner, 2000: Nahrungsspektrum und Gebiß der Anemonengrundel Gobius bucchichi (Gobiidae) im Mittelmeer. Z. Fischkunde 5: 83-90.

Puchner T, 2002: Eine fakultative Symbiose zwischen der Anemonengrundel Gobius bucchichi (Teleostei, Gobiidae) und der Wachsrose Anemonia sulcata (Cnidaeia, Actiniidae). MSc. Thesis, Univ. Vienna.

Sasal P. & Faliex E. et al., 1995: Population structure of Gobius bucchichii in a Mediterranean marine reserve and in an unprotected area. J. Fish Biol. 49 352-356.

Sasal P. & Faliex E. et al., 1996: Parasitism of Gobius bucchichii Steindachner, 1870 (Teleostei, Gobiidae) in protected and unprotected marine environments. Journal of Wildlife Deseases 32: 607-613.

Steindachner F., 1870: Ichthyologische Notizen. VIII. Sber. Akad. Wiss. Wien 60: 120-139.

Velte F., 1994: Ein Anemonenfisch im Mittelmeer - die Streifengrundel. DATZ 47: 300, 302.

Photographs of Gobius bucchichi

Gobius bucchichi, northern Adriatic, 3 m depth, September 2013 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©	Gobius bucchichi northern Adriatic, May 2007 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©
Gobius bucchichi, northern Adriatic, 3 m depth, September 2013 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©	Gobius bucchichi north-eastern Peloponnes (Greece) 1 m depth, July 2019 Photograph: Roberto Pillon ©
Drawings of Gobius bucchichi a) Gobius incognitus b) Gobius bucchichi. Note size of the eyes. Drawings from Kovacic & Sanda (2016) Copyright © 2019 - Robert A. Patzner, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Univ. Salzburg, Austria. State: 2019-07-16 E-mail: robert.patzner@sbg.ac.at