I went fishing today on the border mesh in Kessenich and caught this fish. I thought of a bullhead at first, but it’s a different species. The fish was very dark in color and did not have whiskers like a catfish. It bit on a maggot…
Answer
Dear Rob,
The fish you caught seems to me to be a round goby (Neogobius melanostomus). This belongs to the family Gobiidae (gobies). In these fish, the pelvic fins have grown into a suction disc, in contrast to, for example, the bullhead. This allows the fish to attach itself to a surface. In addition, they also have two dorsal fins; in some species, the base of the anterior dorsal fin touches the base of the posterior dorsal fin. The round goby can be recognized by a clear black spot on the front dorsal fin and the checkered markings on the body.
Most gobies are found in sea and brackish water, but several species also live in freshwater. The round goby originates in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea and recently it has also been shown to occur in the upper reaches of some rivers (eg Danube, Volga and Dnieper). Meanwhile, this species has also been introduced to other places, such as the Baltic Sea and the Great Lakes region of North America. This species was first observed in the Netherlands in 2004 (Van Beek, 2006). The first observation in Belgium was in 2010 (Verreycken et al., 2011), namely in the Scheldt and the Albert Canal. In all these areas the species also appears to be maintaining itself and it is therefore quite possible that it can also be found in the Grensmaas at the moment. These introductions are probably due to the discharge of ballast water from ships from the native range of the round goby.
For more information regarding this species I can refer you to FishBase (www.fishbase.org).
Kind regards,
Gert
Answered by
Gert Boden
freshwater fish, Africa, taxonomy
Leuvensesteenweg 13 3080Tervuren
http://www.africamuseum.be
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