Belly colouration, gonad carotenoid concentration and skin transparency were quantified in gravid Gobiusculus flavescens, as well as in females of five sympatric gobies where belly ornamentation has not been described. Although G. flavescens females did, indeed, have far more colourful bellies than the other species, this could only in part be explained by a high concentration of total gonad ca...

Retention and associated fish mortality of visible implant alphanumeric (VIA) and fluorescent elastomer tags was assessed in 2 Australian intertidal rockpool fishes, Girella elevata (Girellidae) and Bathygobius cocosensis (Gobiidae). Mean retention of VIA and elastomer tags after 90 d was 32 ± 20% and 77 ± 19%, respectively. After 90 d the fish mean mortality from VIA tags (20 ± 5%) was signifi...

A cytogenetic study was carried out on the chromosomes and the nuclear DNA content of the freshwater goby Economidichthys pygmaeus (Pisces, Gobiidae). The species is characterized by a 2n=46 karyotype consisting of 12 submetacentric and 11 subtelocentric chromosome pairs (NF=70). Major (45S) rDNA genes are terminal-centromeric located on the short arm of a single medium-small sized submetacentr...

The last tropical connection between Atlantic and Indian-Pacific habitats closed c. 2 million years ago (Ma), with the onset of cold-water upwelling off southwestern Africa. Yet comparative morphology indicates more recent connections in several taxa, including reef-associated gobies (genus Gnatholepis). Coalescence and phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA cytochrome b sequences demonstrate that Gnat...

Non-native species are known to escape their parasites following introduction into a new range, but they also often acquire local as function of time since establishment. We compared the parasite faunas five non-native Ponto-Caspian gobies (Gobiidae) and fish (Perca fluviatilis, Gymnocephalus cernua, Gobio gobio) in three European river systems; Rivers Rhine, Vistula Morava, where were introduc...

The ecological cognition hypothesis poses that the brains and behaviours of individuals are largely shaped by the environments in which they live and the associated challenges they must overcome during their lives. Here we examine the effect of environmental complexity on relative brain size in 4 species of intertidal gobies from differing habitats. Two species were rock pool specialists that l...