Bighead goby

Ponticola kessleri

Twenty Two Centimeters Goby of European Waters

Temperate
Lower river
Transcontinental
Europe
Fusiform
Medium
Temperate fish

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 1.5–3.0‰.

Class: Teleosts
Order: Gobies and Allies
Family: Gobiidae
Genus: Ponticola
Maximum length: 22 cm
Body shape: fusiform
Distribution: Europe and Asia: Danube delta (Braila, Lake Brates); Lakes Kagul, Yalpukh, Katlabukh, Kitai. Dniester from the liman to the region of Kamentes-Podol'sk. Dnieper to Dnepropetrovsk; Odessa and all coasts of the Caspian Sea; and Volga at Astrakhan. Absent from the Sea of Azov. In Ref. 92840 , it reported that this species reached the North Sea basin through an artificial waterway connecting the Danube with the Rhine (well-documented) and within 4 years, the species colonized all suitable riverhabitats downstream of the invasion site.
Conservation status: LCLeast Concern

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