''Ponticola'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

gobies Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising over 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the fam ...

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

mostly to

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

s of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

region in

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. Some

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

occur in the brackish-water Black and Caspian seas themselves. It was considered to be part of the broader goby

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Benthophilinae The Benthophilinae are a subfamily of gobies endemic to the Ponto-Caspian region (including the Sea of Marmara, Marmara, Black Sea, Black, Sea of Azov, Azov, Caspian Sea, Caspian, and Aral Seas). The subfamily includes about 50 species. The repre ...

, also

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the same region, although the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' does not list any subfamilies in the

Gobiidae Gobiidae or gobies is a family (biology), family of bony fish in the order (biology), order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising over 2,000 species in more than 200 genus, genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typ ...

. Originally, ''Ponticola'' was described as

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''

Neogobius ''Neogobius'' is a genus of gobies, native to Black Sea and the Caspian Sea basins. It is part of the broader Benthophilinae subfamily which is also endemic to the same region. Nevertheless, two ''Neogobius'' species have recently turned out to b ...

''.

Species

There are currently 16 recognized species in this genus: * '' Ponticola bathybius'' ( Kessler, 1877) * '' Ponticola cephalargoides'' ( Pinchuk, 1976) * '' Ponticola constructor'' ( Nordmann, 1840) (Caucasian goby) * '' Ponticola cyrius'' ( Kessler, 1874) * '' Ponticola eurycephalus'' ( Kessler, 1874) (Mushroom goby) * '' Ponticola gorlap'' ( Iljin, 1949) (Caspian bighead goby) * '' Ponticola gymnotrachelus'' ( Kessler, 1857) * '' Ponticola iljini'' ( Vasil'eva & Vasil'ev, 1996) (Eastern Caspian bighead goby) Vasil'eva, E.D., Schwarzhans, W.W., Medvedev, D.A. & Vasil'ev, V.P. (2016): Cryptic Species of Ponto-Caspian Bighead Goby of the Genus ''Ponticola'' (Gobiidae). ''Journal of Ichthyology, 56 (1): 1-18.'' * ''

Ponticola iranicus ''Ponticola'' is a genus of gobies native species, native mostly to fresh waters of the Black Sea - Caspian Sea region in Eurasia. Some species occur in the brackish-water Black and Caspian seas themselves. It was considered to be part of the bro ...

'' Vasil'eva, Mousavi-Sabet & Vasil'ev, 2015 * ''

Ponticola kessleri ''Ponticola kessleri'', the bighead goby or Kessler's goby, is a species of goby native to Eurasia. The bighead goby is a Ponto-Caspian relict species. It inhabits the fresh and oligohaline waters, with mineralisation from 0–0.5‰ up to 1.5� ...

'' ( Günther, 1861) (Big-head goby) * '' Ponticola platyrostris'' (

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

, 1814) (Flat-snout goby) * '' Ponticola ratan'' ( Nordmann, 1840) (Ratan goby) * '' Ponticola rhodioni'' ( Vasil'eva & Vasil'ev, 1994) (Riverine goby) * '' Ponticola rizensis'' ( Kovačić & Engin, 2008) * '' Ponticola syrman'' ( Nordmann, 1840) (Syrman goby) * '' Ponticola turani'' ( Kovačić & Engin, 2008) (Turan's goby)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q753690 Fish of the Black Sea Benthophilinae