Rotan goby

Body length up to 20 cm, usually up to 10 cm; weight up to 125 g, usually up to 90-100 g. Life expectancy up to 4-5 years. Body elongated, high, flattened laterally. The head is high, strongly compressed from the sides (the height is equal to or slightly larger than the width), the snout and the cheeks are not convex. The mouth is large, final, somewhat oblique, its corners under the pupil of the eye. Upper lip is very narrow, everywhere with the same width. The abdominal disc reaches or passes through the anus. Swimming bladder is missing. The general background color is brownish gray or dark brown with a few blurred light spots on the sides, the belly is gray. Along the upper edge of the first dorsal fin, a rather wide yellow or orange border passes, under which a dark spot is usually visible. During breeding, males acquire black color.

Black , Azov , Caspian Sea.

It is found along the northwestern coast of the Black Sea ( Snake Island and from the Gulf of Odessa to the Karkinitsky Bay ), the Crimea (from Karadag to Kerch ), as well as in the estuaries of Berezansky, Bugsky, marked in the lower reaches of the Southern Bug , the Dnieper estuary , from which in the lower reaches of the Dnieper (in the Kakhovsky reservoir formed a local form) and in the Kerch Strait area, and along the south-western (Cape Kazantip) and the northern (Molochny Liman, Berdyansk Spit) shores of the Azov Sea.

Sea bottom living fish of coastal waters, also found in estuaries and lower reaches of rivers. Keeps both off the coast and concentrates on the so-called banks. In spring, it is suitable in shallow water, often almost to the water's edge, for spawning , after which it migrates from the coast to a distance of 100-150 m (up to 15 km) for feeding and, when cooling, for the winter. It reaches sexual maturity at the age of two years with a body length of about 7 cm and a mass of about 8 g. Reproduction from the second half of April, possibly from the end of March. Spawning portion passes among the rocks and rocks of the coastal shallow water. The male actively guards the nest. Juveniles feed on bottom crustaceans , worms, and juvenile gobies and gradually migrate to larger prey. Mature fish eat mainly bobs , young crabs, shrimps, partly clams and small fish, including other goby species.