Benthophilinae

The Benthophilinae are a subfamily of gobies endemic to the Ponto-Caspian region (including the Marmara, Black, Azov, Caspian, and Aral Seas).^[1] The subfamily includes about 50 species. The representatives of the subfamily have fused pelvic fins and elongated dorsal and anal fins.^[2] They are distinguished from the closely related subfamily Gobiinae by the absence of a swimbladder in adults and location of the uppermost rays of the pectoral fins within the fin membrane.^[3]

Benthophilinae
The pale monkey goby (Neogobius fluviatilis) and the dark bighead goby (Ponticola kessleri) are representatives of Benthophilinae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gobiiformes
Family:	Gobiidae
Subfamily:	Benthophilinae Beling & Iljin, 1927
Type genus
Benthophilus Eichwald, 1831
Genera
See text

The Catalog of Fishes still considers these fishes as belonging to the subfamily Gobiinae.^[4]

Systematics of the subfamily

• Tribe Benthophilini
  • Anatirostrum
  • Benthophiloides
  • Benthophilus (type genus)
  • Caspiosoma
• Tribe Neogobiini
  • Neogobius (type genus)
• Tribe Ponticolini
  • Babka
  • Mesogobius
  • Ponticola (type genus)
  • Proterorhinus^[5]