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Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Gobiidae (Gobies) > Gobiinae
Etymology: Aphia: Greek, aphia, -as = a kind of plant (Tussilago sp.) (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 97 m (Ref. 57814), usually 5 - 80 m (Ref. 57814). Subtropical; 13°C - 16°C (Ref. 57814), preferred ?; 70°N - 25°N, 13°W - 42°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Atlantic Ocean: Trondheim to Morocco. Also known from the Mediterranean including Black Sea and the Azov Sea (Ref. 57814).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 3.8, range 3 - ? cm
Max length : 7.9 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26260); max. reported age: 1 years (Ref. 232)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 4 - 6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 113; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 11 - 15. Transparent body, more or less reddish, with chromatophores along bases of median fins and on head. Vertebrae 26-28 (Ref. 232). Males with longer dorsal and anal fins than females (Ref. 35388).

Benthic and free swimming (Ref. 92840). A neotenic, pelagic species inhabiting inshore and estuarine waters, over sand, mud and eel-grass (Ref. 4343). Adults feed on zooplankton, especially copepods, cirripede larvae and mysids (Ref. 4343). They spawn in summer in empty bivalve shells (Ref. 35388). Probably migrate to deeper water to spawn during summer (Ref. 57814). Adults die after breeding (Ref. 4696) which does not qualify as a manifestation of semelparity but abbreviate iteroparity according to a recent study (Ref. 81039). Eggs are pear-shaped (Ref. 4696).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Single spawner, all oocytes in the ovaries grow at a similar rate (Ref. 57814). However, a recent study showed that this species breeds at least twice during its short lifespan with batches of oocytes at different vittelogenic stages in the ovary (Ref. 81039). Reproduction is of the abbreviate iteroparous type with more than one spawning per reproductive season (in spring and summer in older females, in summer and autumn in the yougner ones) (Ref. 81039).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Maugé, L.A., 1986. Gobiidae. p. 358-388. In J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ISNB, Brussels; MRAC, Tervuren; and ORSTOM, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 4343)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

Not Evaluated

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial

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Internet sources

Aphia minuta (Risso, 1810)