Milvana Arko Pijevac’s scientific contributions

Habitat data for many Mediterranean gobies are absent or scarce and mostly restricted to very limited qualitative descriptions. The striped goby, Gobius vittatus was considered to be rare or very rare, and many aspects of its ecology are still unknown. In the present work we aimed at collecting data on distribution, abundance and microhabitat preferences of G. vittatus in the Kvarner area (northern Adriatic Sea). G. vittatus was one of the most common epibenthic fish in the investigated area, being recorded at 66% of SCUBA dives. G. vittatus was most frequently found at a mixed rock and sand bottom, characterised by steep or medium slope from 5 to 34 m depth. The most frequently co-occurring epibenthic fish species with G. vittatus was Parablennius rouxi. The abundance of G. vittatus varied significantly across months and was positively correlated with temperature.