Species Diversity, Diagnostic Characters, and Distribution of the Tubenose Gobies of Genus Proterorhinus (Gobiidae). I. A New Species of the Tubenose Goby from the Water Bodies of the Eastern Coast of the Black Sea

A new species of the tubenose goby is described, found in some rivers and lakes of the Black Sea coast of Georgia and Abkhazia. In contrast to the widely distributed in the basin of the northeastern part of the Black Sea Proterorhinus marmoratus s. stricto, the new species typically has no more than 16½ branched rays in the dorsal fin (typically no less than 17½ rays in P. marmoratus), typically 13½ rays in anal fin (typically no less than 14½ rays in P. marmoratus); total number of scales along the mid-lateral is no more than 50 (varies from 47 to 57 in P. marmoratus); in specimens SL 40 mm or more, the distance from the anterior tip of the snout to the origin of the second dorsal fin longer than 50% SL (typically shorter than 50% SL in P. marmoratus) and the distance to the origin of anal fin longer than 56% SL (shorter than 56% SL in P. marmoratus).