The sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus), also known as a polewig or pollybait, is a coastal goby of European waters from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea, frequenting sandy areas, Littoral zones, lagoons, salt marshes and, in autumn, estuaries. It grows up to 94mm in length.
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 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.
It breeds in the summer, laying its eggs under shells and rocks, which the male guards. Its lifespan is between 15–18 months. Its main diet is skeleton shrimp and worms.
Famous quotes containing the word sand:
“We noticed several other sandy tracts in our voyage; and the course of the Merrimack can be traced from the nearest mountain by its yellow sand-banks, though the river itself is for the most part invisible. Lawsuits, as we hear, have in some cases grown out of these causes. Railroads have been made through certain irritable districts, breaking their sod, and so have set the sand to blowing, till it has converted fertile farms into deserts, and the company has had to pay the damages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)