A New Species of the Gobiidae Family in Transylvania Waters: Racer Goby (Babka gymnotrachelus, Kessler 1857)

Abstract

The racer goby (Babka gymnotrachelus) is one of the well represented Ponto-Caspian goby species in most Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve lakes and channels, including Razim-Sinoe lagoon complex and lower sector of the Danube. Also, the presence of this species is notedin some lakes near Bucharest. The presence of this species in Transylvania has not been reported until now,during ichthyologic investigations from 2015-2016, seven specimens from Someş River and some of its tributaries, were captured:one specimen was caught in a channel adjacent to Ţaga Mare Lake, one specimen was caught in Someşul Mare River (Mica village, Cluj County), two specimens were captured from the confluence of the Someşul Mic River and FizeşRiver.The sixth specimen were captured from Fizeş River (Fizeşu Gherlii village, Cluj County) and the last one was also caught from the Fizeş River (Sântioana village, Cluj County). It is possible that the species migrated in Someş Catchment from the Hungarian Danube sector, by the tributaries of Tisa River, or it might have originated from stocking material used in fish farms in Transylvania. The somatic, gravimetric and meristic measurements of the collected specimens were taken in the Acquaculture and Acquatic Organisms Phisyology laboratories from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca and correspond with those mentioned in the published literature regarding this species.

Distribution and diversity of fishes and lampreys in Transylvania (Romania): a complete survey and suggestions for new protected areas

“…Three species, Babka gymnotrachelus , Neogobius fluviatilis , and Perccottus glenii , have recently appeared in Transylvania ( Covaciu-Marcov et al 2011 ; Cocan et al 2014 , 2016 ). Our observations indicate that these species have expanded their range of distribution.…”

Seasonal abundance and feeding patterns of the invasive racer goby (Babka gymnotrachelus) in the littoral zone of a lowland European river

“…During the 1990s, this species invaded several European rivers and successfully established in the Danube River (Kautman 2001;Bănăduc et al 2014Bănăduc et al , 2016 upstream to its upper course in Germany (Haertl et al 2012), and in the Western Bug and Vistula Rivers in Poland (Danilkiewicz 1996;Kostrzewa and Grabowski 2003;Grabowska 2005), the Rhine River in Germany (Borcherding et al 2011), the Dnieper River upstream to Belarus, as well as the Pripyat River (Semenchenko et al 2009). More recently, it was recorded in the Someş River in Romania (Cocan et al 2016) and the Evros River in Greece (Zogaris et al 2019). According to recent studies, racer goby is considered to be native in the Dniester River basin and in the submountain Strwiąż River in Poland (Grabowski et al 2016;Kukuła et al 2019).…”

The racer goby, Babka gymnotrachelus (Kessler, 1857) invades the Evros river: evidence of recent establishment in Greece

“…In addition, the sides of B. gymnotrachelus often show a characteristic but variable slanting striped pattern. Since sexual maturity occurs after the second year of life, at an approximate total length (TL) greater than 5.8 cm (Grabowska, 2005;Cocan et al, 2016) only specimens from "Evros_MD" had reached reproductive sizes (Tab. 2).…”