Meristic and morphometric characters of small sandeel, Ammodytes tobianus L. (Actinopterygii: Ammodytidae), from the Gulf of Gdańsk, Baltic Sea

Small (or lesser) sandeel, Ammodytes tobianus L., is an inshore fish, found associated with sand and fine gravel banks up to, and including, the intertidal zone. It also occurs in estuaries (O’Connel and Fives 1995). The geographical distribution of A. tobianus ranges from the Murman Sea to the west coast of Iceland in the north, to the Baltic Sea in the east, and to Spain to the south. In the Mediterranean, it has been recorded from the Balearic Islands (Whitehead et al. 1986). Small sandeel used to be a common fish in the Baltic Sea. In 1998, a Polish fisheries survey, carried out in two naturally varying basins of the southern Baltic Sea (Poland), ACTA ICHTHYOLOGICA ET PISCATORIA (2007) 37 (1): 37–45