Within the context of global warming, the western coast of the northern Adriatic Sea can be regarded as an extremely vulnerable area. Owing to the local geographic features, this area has been described as the Venetian lacuna, where Mediterranean Sea climatic conditions are replaced by Atlantic Ocean ones, supporting the presence of glacial relicts, such as sprat Sprattus sprattus , flounder Platichthys flesus and brown shrimp...

Sexual dimorphism of vertical bar patterning along the ontogenetic gradient was investigated in the South European toothcarp Aphanius fasciatus through the analysis of field samples collected from four different Venice Lagoon sites. Results suggested that, after controlling for site effect, vertical bar number and density were more correlated with size in females than in males, yielding a higher number of less spaced bars in f...

This study provides data on the genetic structuring of the pipefish Syngnathus abaster in the western Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. A total of 109 specimens were collected in brackish‐water biotopes. The control region and three other regions of the mitochondrial genome were analysed. The most relevant result was the high genetic structuring found by Bayesian inference ( BI ), maximum likelihood ( ML ) and network analyses,...

Courtships sounds and associated behaviours were recorded in the Canestrini's goby Pomatoschistus canestrinii using a simultaneous video–acoustic system: the male exhibited a display composed of both a visual (rapid head movements) and an acoustic component (thump sound), and its intensity was positively associated with that of a female visual display.

The gobiid assemblage of the Venice Lagoon shallow waters was investigated by means of a semi‐quantitative standardized sampling (using a small beach seine), stratified into five main types of shallow subtidal habitats and conducted on a seasonal basis during 1 year. The degree of overlap in resource utilization among six coexisting goby species was assessed, along both the time axis, by analysing the seasonal variation in abu...

Shoals of hatchery‐reared and wild sea bass juveniles Dicentrarchus labrax were tested for differences in their antipredator responses towards a potential live predator, the eel Anguilla anguilla . Eight experimental shoals ( i.e . replicates), each composed of 15 individuals from the same stock of juveniles ( i.e . wild or hatchery), were video recorded for 5 min before and after predator exposure. A set of behavioural variab...

In this study the behavioural interaction between the bourgeois and the parasitic male of the grass goby, Zosterissor ophiocephalus , is investigated during spawning in the laboratory. Large grass goby males care for the eggs (bourgeoise males), whereas small males are believed to adopt an alternative mating tactic. The behavioural interaction between one large male spawning inside an artificial nest (a large plastic box burie...

The emission of breeding vocalizations among sand‐gobies Pomatoschistus marmoratus , P. canestrini and Knipowitschia panizzae are described. The sounds of these gobies are pulse trains emitted by the male during mating interactions in the nest (prespawning sounds).