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SCIENTIFIC NAME
COMMON NAME
THUMBNAILS
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Actinopterygii
Order Perciformes
Family Gobiidae
Genus Zosterisessor
Species ophiocephalus
Classification Pallas, 1814
Common name grass goby
Size maximum total lenght: 25 centimeters

Geographic Range North east Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Azov Sea.
Physical Characteristics it is characterized by a squat body, swollen cheeks and big lips. It has not swimming-bladder, thus it can not do long moving and lives on the bottom, to which it sticks by the pelvic fin. The eyes are shifted to the top of the head, to allow a complete vision, even if it is covered with sand.
Behaviour male looks after the eggs: it oxygenates them with its fins, defends from predators, and it cleans them with a germicidal mucus.
Habitat it lives in brackish environment, estuary and lagoons, on the muddy bottoms or in phanerogames prairies.
Food habits it feeds onworms, benthic crustaceans, amphipods.
Nidification male builds the nest digging the den under gravels.
Reproduction female goes in the den and lays the eggs sticking them to the stones that constitute the vault of the deg. Hatching happens 5-6 days after fertilization.

Sources  
References Riserva Naturale Marina di Miramare
Web References http://www.riservamarinamiramare.it/
Source of the photo http://www.fishbase.org/

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