Osteology and dentition of two Mediterranean Gobius species (Teleostei, Gobiidae)

Abstract

Osteological examinations of the two gobiid species Gobius fallax and the recently described colour morph of G. auratus from the northern Adriatic Sea revealed interspecific conformity in most features. These closely related species only show slight trends of osteological differentiation; clear discriminating features were hardly determined also due to high intraspecific variations. Both the metapterygoid bridge to the quadrate and the tail skeleton exhibit a somewhat stronger development in G. fallax. Although the counts of teeth in jaws and pharynx show differences, the high intraspecific variation in G. fallax did not enable discrimination between the two species. G. fallax and G. auratus exhibit skeletal features, which are common and rather primitive among the Gobiinae such as a pterygiophore formula of 3-22110, a metapterygoid bridge to the quadrate that is variable in its extension, a well-developed connection between preopercle and symplectic, and a scapula with only the dorsal part of the foramen ossified.