| Benthophilinae | |
|---|---|
| |
| The pale monkey goby (Neogobius fluviatilis) and the dark bighead goby (Ponticola kessleri) are representatives of Benthophilinae | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Gobiiformes |
| Family: | Gobiidae |
| Subfamily: | Benthophilinae Beling & Iljin, 1927 |
| Type genus | |
| Benthophilus Eichwald, 1831
| |
| Genera | |
|
See text | |
The Benthophilinae are a subfamily of gobies endemic to the Ponto-Caspian region (including the Marmara, Black, Azov, Caspian, and Aral Seas).[1] The subfamily includes about 50 species. The representatives of the subfamily have fused pelvic fins and elongated dorsal and anal fins.[2] They are distinguished from the closely related subfamily Gobiinae by the absence of a swimbladder in adults and location of the uppermost rays of the pectoral fins within the fin membrane.[3]
The Catalog of Fishes still considers these fishes as belonging to the subfamily Gobiinae.[4]
- ^ Simonović P.D., Nikolić V.P., Skóra K.E. (1996) Vertebral number in Ponto-Caspian gobies: phylogenetic relevance. J. Fish Biol., 49: 1027–1029.
- ^ Miller P.J. (1986) Gobiidae. In: Whitehead P.J.P., Bauchot M.-L., Hureau J.-C., Nielsen J., Tortonese E. (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Vol. 3. UNESCO, Paris.
- ^ Pinchuk V.I. (1991) K voprosu o grupirovkakh vidov v predelakh roda Neogobius (Perciformes). Voprosy Ikhtiologii, 31: 380–393.
- ^ W. Eschmeyer (2015) Catalog of Fishes Archived May 3, 2015, at the Wayback Machine California Academy of Sciences (1 Mar 2015)