sand goby
Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus) from the Gulf of Gdansk, caught near the Hel Marine Station
Yuriy Kvach · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus), also known as a polewig or pollybait, is a species of ray-finned fish native to marine and brackish European waters from the Baltic Sea through the Mediterranean Sea and into the Black Sea where it occurs in sandy or muddy areas of inshore waters at depths of from 4 to 200 metres (13 to 656 ft). This species can reach a length of 11 centimetres (4.3 in) TL. This species is sometimes kept in public aquariums. The sand goby is of a sandy colour, with darker markings on the sides and a creamy-white underside. In the breeding season the male fish has a blue spot at the rear of the first dorsal fin, ringed with white. The fish has a slender body, and the head is about a quarter of the total length.
Wikipedia contributors, Sand goby; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:49:10.443701+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770)
- Name authority
- (Pallas, 1770)
- Common name
- sand goby
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Gobiiformes
- Family
- Gobiidae
- Genus
- Pomatoschistus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderGobiiformes
- familyGobiidae Cuvier, 1816
- subfamilyGobiinae Cuvier, 1816
- genusPomatoschistus Gill, 1863
- speciesPomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pomatoschistus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Pomatoschistus bathi Miller, 1982 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pomatoschistus knerii (Steindachner, 1861) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lozano's gobyPomatoschistus lozanoi (de Buen, 1923) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| common gobyPomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Norway gobyPomatoschistus norvegicus (Collett, 1902) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pomatoschistus tortonesei Miller, 1969 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pomatoschistus nanus Engin & Seyhan, 2017 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pomatoschistus marmoratus (Risso, 1810) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pomatoschistus montenegrensis Miller & Šanda, 2008 | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| painted gobyPomatoschistus pictus (Malm, 1865) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pomatoschistus quagga (Heckel, 1837) | GobiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Gobius cobitiformis Kessler, 1874 Kessler, 1874 | synonym |
| Gobius ekstromii Günther, 1861 Günther, 1861 | synonym |
| Gobius minutus Pallas, 1770 Pallas, 1770 | synonym |
| Gobius taalmankipii Hubrecht, 1877 Hubrecht, 1877 | synonym |
| Gobius minutus major Heincke, 1880 Heincke, 1880 | synonym |
| Pomatoschistus minutus minutus (Pallas, 1770) (Pallas, 1770) | synonym |
| Gobius minutus guitelli Le Danois, 1913 Le Danois, 1913 | synonym |
| Gobius elongatus Canestrini, 1862 Canestrini, 1862 | ambiguous synonym |
| Gobius gracilis Cabrera, Pérez & Haenseler, 1868 Cabrera, Pérez & Haenseler, 1868 | ambiguous synonym |
| Gobius gracilis Jenyns, 1835 Jenyns, 1835 | ambiguous synonym |
| Pomatoschistus minutus elongatus (Canestrini, 1862) (Canestrini, 1862) | synonym |
| Gobius unipunctatus Parnell, 1838 Parnell, 1838 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126928 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4LQXK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.