SYSTEMATIC POSITION AND ORIGIN OF GOBIUS-OCHETICUS NORMAN, 1927, FROM SUEZ-CANAL

A redescription from syntype material is made for Gobius ocheticus Norman, 1927, a small gobiid teleost originally described from the Suez Canal and northernmost Gulf of Suez, and so far not recorded elsewhere. Close systematic relationship with species of the Atlantic‐Mediterranean genus Pomatoschistus, Indo‐Pacific Acentrogobius, South African Caffrogobius, and Western Atlantic Coryphopterus, as suggested or implied by previous authors, is rejected after examination of skeletal and lateral‐line criteria. The species is now provisionally placed in the East African genus Monishia Smith, and may represent an “Isthmus” derivative of Pleistocene origin. Copyright © 1978, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved