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Habitat Selection and Ecology of Two Speleophilic Gobiid Fishes(Pisces: Gobiidae) from the Western Mediterranean Sea
Author(s) -
Herler Jürgen,
Patzner Robert A.,
Ahnelt Harald,
Hilgers Helge
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
marine ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.668
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1439-0485
pISSN - 0173-9565
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-0485.1999.00062.x
Subject(s) - mediterranean sea , habitat , ecology , cave , mediterranean climate , biology , actinopterygii , fishery , fish <actinopterygii>
The life habits and microhabitat selection of speleophilic gobiid fishes were investigated on the Balearic Island of Ibiza (western Mediterranean Sea). Corcyrogobius liechtensteini (Kolombatović, 1891) was the most frequent species within submarine crevices, cavities and caves. Didogobius splechtnai Ahnelt & Patzner, 1995 co‐occurred with C. liechtensteini in several cases but showed a clear spatial separation based on a different microhabitat preference. The microhabitat selection of both species was confirmed by habitat‐choice experiments in anaquarium. Corcyrogobius liechtensteini was frequent in depths between 5 m and 25 m and attained abundances of 14.2 individuals · m −2 . This species inhabited the ceilings and upper parts of the walls within the caves. D. splechtnai was mainly found between 7 m and 11 m and showed abundances of approximately 2 indivi‐duals · m −2 . This species occupied the fine sediment bottoms in the innermost parts of crevices and caves. The growth and the maximum age of both species were determined by length‐frequency distributions. The overall sex ratio from catches of three different years are given for C. liechtensteini .