Gobius_bucchichi

Gobius bucchichi Steindachner, 1870

Common names: English: Bucchichi's goby
German: Anemonengrundel

Common synonyms: none.

Length: 8 - 10 cm.

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

Description
Anterior nostrils with short tentacles, sometimes bifurcated. Similar to 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).

Food
Carnivorous; crustaceans, polychaets, molluscs, algae. See diagram --> Here.

Reproduction
Spawning season: April and May, Black Sea: June to August. Reproductive behaviour: goby pattern. A female has 1,200 to 10,000 eggs (length 1.3 mm). Development: 6 days at 21 to 22° C. Larvae: 2.2 mm planktonic phase until 9 mm length.

Habitat
1 - 25 m. Rocky shores, in the Black Sea also on soft bottoms. Usually together with Anemonia viridis (snackelocks sea-anemone), is protected against stinging.
Avoids areas of strong water movements and steep slopes. Juveniles associated with sea urchins. Common.

Gobius bucchichi
Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©
Cyprus, 5 m depth, July 2002

Distribution
Mediterranean; towards the south coast of Portugal; Black Sea.

Literature on Gobius bucchichi

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.

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. 6 Kaya M., 2002: Checklist of the marine fishes of Turkey. Zootaxa 113: 1–194.

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.

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., 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.

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 with Anemonia viridis and Leptomysis lingvura, Ibiza, Baleares, 10 m depth, September 1995 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©	Gobius bucchichi with Anemonia viridis Ibiza, Baleares, 10 m depth, September 1994 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©

Two juvenile Gobius bucchichi with sea urchin; Ibiza, Baleares, 5 m depth, August 1998 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©	Juvenile Gobius bucchichi with sea urchin; Ibiza, Baleares, 5 m depth, August 1998 Photograph: Robert A. Patzner ©

Detail of the frontal part of the praemaxilla of Gobius bucchichi. Behind the first row with big teeth, there are some rows of smaller teeth which are lightly bent inside. From Pölzer & Patzner (2000)	Lateral view of the frontal teeth of the dental field of Gobius bucchichi. Not all teeth are bent inside identically. From Pölzer & Patzner (2000)

Drawings of Gobius bucchichi


Drawings from Miller (1986)
Gut content of Gobius bucchichi. Crustacea are the most important prey-organisms. From Pölzer & Patzner (2000)