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Abstract

In this study, cryptobenthic communities of fishes and decapod in underwater caves of Tarkhankut peninsula, underwater caves of southwestern Crimea and mussel's farm in Sebastopol were described. Structure and features of cryptobenthic fauna were considered for mussel's settlements and underwater habitat (caves and grottoes), the study of which is extremely complex and are sketchy and incomplete in the Black Sea. In the cryptobenthic fish community of the mussel fouling two new for Crimea fish species -zebra goby Zebrus zebrus and small-headed clingfish Apletodon dentatus, were discovered, both of them were previously found only sporadically in the southern part of the Black Sea. For the first time early developmental stage and morphometric characteristics of the Black Sea population of zebra goby were studied, this made it possible to identify the morphological differences between similar species Zebrus zebrus and Millerigobius macrocephalus. Some morphological features of the Black Sea population Apletodon dentatus, which is one of the rarest species of this genus, have been described. Species biodiversity and quantitative relationships in the crypthodentic decapod community was investigated. Adult specimens of two rare species of shrimp (Lismata seticaudata, Alpheus dentipes), previously known in this area for only a few find plankton larvae were first found in the fauna of decapods of southwestern Crimea. Results from study confirm that it is promisingly investigate the species diversity and abundance of cryptobenthic species fish and decapod in artificial populations of mussel fouling.

Rarely Reported Cryptobenthic Fish in Marine Caves of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

“…In the present study, an additional record of this species is reported from Kalymnos Island. While L. lepadogaster was previously recorded from marine caves of Crimea [75] and the Mediterranean coast of Israel [76], only L. candolii was recorded in a single marine cave of the Aegean Sea, associated with the sponge Aplysina aerophoba (Nardo, 1833) [4,24]. Thus, this study constitutes the second record of a clingfish species in a marine cave of the Aegean Sea.…”

“…Among the species recorded in this study, Grammonus ater, Gammogobius steinitzi, and Didogobius splechtnai belong to the first category; and Corcyrogobius liechtensteini, Thorogobius ephippiatus, Microlipophrys nigriceps, and Tripterygion melanurum belong to the second category. Lepadogaster lepadogaster, with only two previous records from marine caves in the Black Sea [75], and Israel [76], is associated with very shallow cryptic habitats and therefore can be found in caves, in cases of habitat overlapping, when marine caves reach the intertidal zones.…”