Tadpole goby
The tadpole-gobies, also called pugolovkas, are a genus of Ponto-Caspian fish in the family Gobiidae.
They are distributed in the fresh and brackish waters of basins of the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov, up to salinities of about 20 ‰. They typically live in habitats such as the deep waters of the Caspian and in the deltas, estuaries and coastal waters of the Ponto-Caspian.
Tadpole-gobies are small fish, never larger than, and usually smaller. Their life span is about one year. After spawning they die.
Species
There are currently 21 recognized species in this genus:Benthophilus abdurahmanovi Ragimov, 1978 Benthophilus baeri Kessler, 1877 Benthophilus casachicus Ragimov, 1978Benthophilus ctenolepidus Kessler, 1877Benthophilus durrelli Boldyrev & Bogutskaya, 2004 Benthophilus granulosus Kessler, 1877 Benthophilus grimmi Kessler, 1877Benthophilus kessleri L. S. Berg, 1927Benthophilus leobergius L. S. Berg, 1949 Benthophilus leptocephalus Kessler, 1877Benthophilus leptorhynchus Kessler, 1877 Benthophilus macrocephalus Benthophilus magistri Iljin, 1927 Benthophilus mahmudbejovi Ragimov, 1976 Benthophilus nudus L. S. Berg, 1898 Benthophilus persicus Kovačić, Esmaeili, Zarei, Abbasi & Schliewen, 2021Benthophilus pinchuki Ragimov, 1982Benthophilus ragimovi Boldyrev & Bogutskaya, 2004 Benthophilus spinosus Kessler, 1877 Benthophilus stellatus Benthophilus svetovidovi Pinchuk & Ragimov, 1979The fossil species †Benthophilus styriacus Schwarzhans, Bradić & Bratishko, 2016 and †?Benthophilus ovisulcus Schwarzhans, Bradić & Bratishko, 2016 are known from fossil otoliths from the Middle Miocene of Romania.''''