Knout Goby, or Toad goby (Mesogobius batrachocephalus), is a species of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 in the Gobiidae family from the basin of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. The natural area of this species are coastal waters of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. Presented in the Bosporus

Bosporus

The Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...

 (registered in the Balta-Liman

Balta-Liman

Balta-Liman is a bay near the European coast of Bosporus, in the city of Istanbul. The name originates from - "arch".The bay is famous for the Treaty of Balta Liman, signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire on May 1, 1849....

), Lake Varna

Lake Varna

Lake Varna is the largest by volume and deepest liman or lake along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, divided from the sea by a 2 km-wide strip of sand and having an area of 17 km², maximal depth 19 m, and a volume of 166 million m³....

, Kerch Strait, estuaries: Berezan

Berezan Estuary

Berezan Estuary, or Berezanskyi Liman , is open estuary on the northern coast of the Black Sea, western from the town Ochakiv. Length 26 km, width 4 km in south. Separated from the sea by sandbar, which has 640 m canal. Coasts are high...

, Hryhorivsky

Hryhorivsky Estuary

Hryhorivsky Estuary, or Small Adzhalyk Estuary , is a brackish water area in the South Ukraine, in 30 km to north-east from Odessa. In the lower part of the estuary the Port Yuzhny is located...

, Tyligul

Tyligul Estuary

Tyligul Estuary is an estuary of the Tyligul River. Located in the south of Ukraine. The name of the water body has origine from , means "mad, rabid lake". The estuary has length 80 km, width 0.2—3.5 km, depth up to 19 m. The isolation of the estuary from the Black Sea was in 18-19-th...

, Dniester

Dniester Liman

Dniester Liman of Dniester Estuary is a liman, formed at the point where the river Dniester flows into the Black Sea. It is located in Ukraine, in Odessa Oblast. The city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi lies on its western shore and Ovidiopol on its eastern shore. Shabo, situated downstream of...

, Dnieper-Bug

Dnieper-Bug Estuary

Dnieper-Bug Estuary is an open estuary, or liman, of two rivers: Dnieper and Southern Bug. Located in the northern coast of the Black Sea. The most important port is Ochakiv....

, Molochny, Sivash. In the lower Southern Bug

Southern Bug

The Southern Bug, also called Southern Buh), is a river located in Ukraine. The source of the river is in the west of Ukraine, in the Volyn-Podillia Upland, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Bug Estuary through the southern steppes...

 River, in the Dnieper River up to Zaporizhzhia.

Recently, the toad goby has expanded its range into the Dnieper River, and has become a common species near Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

, in Kiev Reservoir

Kiev Reservoir

The Kiev Reservoir , locally the Kiev Sea, is a large water reservoir located on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. Named after the city of Kiev, which lies to the south, it covers a total area of 922 square kilometres within the Kiev Oblast. The reservoir was formed in 1960-1966, as a result of the...

.

The Knout Goby inhabits inshore waters, estuaries, brackish- and fresh-water lagoons of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 and the Sea of Azov

Sea of Azov

The Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...

. It can reach 35–40 cm in length (14-16 inches) and 600 grams in weight (1.3 pounds). Lives up to eight years. Spawns for the first time at the third year in February–May, only once a year. Deposits its roe

Roe

Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...

 under or between stones. Its relatively large size and its somewhat flat head with chubby cheeks, sets it apart from its other relatives in the Gobiidae family. The Knout Goby prefers sandy and rocky bottom, where it can feed on shrimp

Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...

 and other small crustaceans, mussels, and other molluscs as well as on small gobies and other small fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

.

Source

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. Mesogobius batrachocephalus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 4 August 2007.
• Mesogobius batrachocephalus in FishBase
• Fishes of the waters of Ukraine