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Sea fish

Black goby

Gobius niger

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Other names: Kara gobi

Open fishing grounds on the map Bait and tackle
Black goby
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · source
Habitat
Harbour · rocky ground
Method
LRF · Bottom fishing
Family
Gobiidae

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Where is Black goby caught?

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Black Sea fishing spots

169
Black Sea
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A listed spot is not a guarantee of a catch.

Black Sea

Season and suitable conditions

Recorded all year round in this region; no distinct fishing season shows.

Season information is no guarantee of a catch.

Best spots in November

By month

Average monthly score of the spots in Turkey (0–100).

  1. 29 Jan
  2. 29 Feb
  3. 65 Mar
  4. 73 Apr
  5. 73 May
  6. 71 Jun
  7. 68 Jul
  8. 67 Aug
  9. 69 Sep
  10. 72 Oct
  11. 73 Nov
  12. 62 Dec

The best spot in each Turkish province, by this month’s score.

  1. Ayvalık Belediyesi Plaj İşletmesi Ayvalık, Balıkesir 80/100 Very good
  2. Güzelyalı Feribot İskelesi Kıyısı Mudanya, Bursa 80/100 Very good
  3. Kadırga Koyu Sahili Ayvacık, Çanakkale 80/100 Very good
  4. Aya Nikola Halk Plajı Adalar, İstanbul 80/100 Very good
  5. Ayıbalığı Plajı Karaburun, İzmir 80/100 Very good

A 0–100 score from season, water temperature, habitat and local records; a general trend, not a guarantee.

Best times of day

When in the day it bites best, month by month.

  • Active day and night
  • Limited at night

In November

  1. Dawn Best 80

    0.5 h before sunrise → 2.5 h after

  2. Midday 70

    1 h before midday → 2 h after

  3. Dusk 75

    2.5 h before sunset → 0.5 h after

Not productive at night

Moon phase

Effect of the moon on night fishing; the scores compare the phases.

  1. New moon 15
  2. First quarter 15
  3. Full moon 20
  4. Last quarter 15

Best phase: No clear effect

Windows across 12 months

Best times of day J F M A M J J A S O N D
Dawn 50 50 75 75 75 85 85 85 80 80 80 50
Midday 85 85 70 70 70 50 50 50 70 70 70 85
Dusk 60 60 75 75 75 80 80 80 75 75 75 60
Night 30 30 30 30 30 30

Windows follow sunrise and sunset; clock times change with place and date. Scores are relative within the month: 100 is the best window of the day.

7 sources · confidence medium

Habitat

Where it lives and in what kind of water: ranges compiled by the research.

Depth

1–96 m

mostly 1–50 m

Water temperature

6.3–33.8 °C

ideal 9.4–20.3 °C

Salinity

Also enters brackish water

3.6–40 ‰

Shore types

  • Sandy beach
  • Delta / alluvial shore
  • Cove / inner bay
  • Breakwater / jetty
  • Pier / quay
  • Around marinas
  • River / stream mouth
  • Lagoon / weir mouth
  • Inside harbours
  • Tidal flat / marsh
  • Reclaimed shore

Bottom

Lives close to the bottom

  • Sand
  • Seagrass
  • Seaweed

Ranges from FishBase, AquaMaps and the literature; a general tendency, not a hard limit.

Confidence: shore type high, temperature medium

Bait and tackle suggestions

Recorded baits and fishing techniques.

Bait by month

Baits documented for shore fishing, month by month and by water clarity.

In November

Natural baits

Lures

Processed bait (all year)

  • Chicken
  • Beef

By water clarity

Rock / bottom omnivore — Picks up crustaceans, worms and weed. Wary; relies on smell and a natural look.

Clear Visibility: over 8 m
Natural first, lures also work First natural bait: Ragworm · Very suitable Usually in this water: Live shrimp, tube worm, mud shrimp, mussel; thin line, small hidden hook; little chum. First lure: LRF micro soft plastic · Very suitable Usually in this water: LRF micro soft plastic, imitation shrimp; very small, slow. Colour: Clear, Natural brown, Red
Slightly coloured Visibility: 4–8 m
Natural first, lures also work First natural bait: Ragworm · Very suitable Usually in this water: Shrimp, worm, mussel; normal pieces. First lure: LRF micro soft plastic · Very suitable Usually in this water: LRF/micro soft plastic, imitation shrimp. Colour: Pink, White, Red
Moderately coloured Visibility: 2–4 m
Natural bait First natural bait: Ragworm · Very suitable Usually in this water: Mussel, crab, sardine pieces with chum (crushed mussel or bread). First lure: Metal jig · Very suitable Usually in this water: Scented soft plastic (Isome/Gulp type); slow, on the bottom. Colour: Fluorescent, Pink
Murky Visibility: 1–2 m
Natural bait First natural bait: Mussel · Suitable Usually in this water: Crab, mussel, razor clam; bottom rig; strong scent. First lure: Scented soft plastic · Suitable Usually in this water: Weak; scented soft plastic only. Colour: Dark silhouette
Very murky Visibility: under 1 m
Natural bait First natural bait: Mussel · Suitable Usually in this water: Mussel, crab, cut bait; big pieces. First lure: Scented soft plastic · Weak Colour: Dark silhouette
12-month bait calendar
January
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
February
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
March
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
April
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
May
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
June
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
July
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
August
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
September
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
October
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
November
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow
December
Natural baits: Mussel, Ragworm Lures: LRF micro soft plastic, Scented soft plastic, Metal jig, Hard minnow

This is the usual pattern; the water and weather on the day can change it. Colour is fine-tuning: bait type, size and action come first. Confidence: natural medium, lures high. Colour and presentation guide

Fishing technique

In this region · Black Sea

Natural bait:
worm, shrimp, mussel; regional support: European anchovy / European sprat
Lure:
micro soft plastic
Technique:
Bolognese

Fishing rules

The regulation holds no separate minimum size or closed season entry for this species. The provisions for Türkiye as a whole apply.

Before you go, check local area and method restrictions.

How to recognise the black goby

The fish on this page is Gobius niger, the black goby. In the WoRMS register it sits in the family Gobiidae and the order Gobiiformes; Linnaeus named the species in 1758. The MarLIN species page says the thick-set head makes up a quarter of the total length and that the first of the two dorsal fins is pointed. FishBase describes the body as round in cross-section and slightly flattened, with the eyes set high on the sides of the head. The most reliable mark is on the dorsal fins. FishBase notes a black spot at the front end of each dorsal fin. A study published in Zootaxa on identifying Mediterranean gobies from photographs (Kovačić and colleagues, 2022) adds that this blotch is often visible on the first membrane of each dorsal fin, sometimes only on the first fin. According to the same study, the colour ranges from light cream, grey or greenish to black in males guarding a nest; light individuals show five or six black blotches along the middle of the flank, a white bar in front of the eye and a black bar below it, and black, clearly visible sensory papillae on the nape. In mature males the first dorsal fin is long and pointed, with the third and fourth spines the longest. MarLIN names Gobius paganellus as a species the black goby can be confused with: the two are similar in size and colour, but according to MarLIN that species lives in rocky areas, while Gobius niger prefers sand and mud.

Where does it live, and how?

Despite the “rock” in its Turkish name, the sources place this species on soft bottoms first. FishBase says it lives in estuaries, lagoons and inshore waters, over sand or mud, in seagrass or among algae; the depth range is 1–96 metres, usually 1–50 metres. Kovačić and colleagues likewise find it mostly on sheltered or muddy bottoms and in coastal lagoons. Besides the sea, FishBase also lists brackish water; it adds that the species is occasionally recorded in fresh water, but that there is no documented occurrence in European fresh waters. FishBase gives the range as the North African coast from Mauritania to the Suez Canal, the Atlantic coast north to Trondheim in Norway and into the Baltic, and the Black Sea. For the Sea of Marmara the source is a 2018 study by Kırdar and İşmen of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University: it examines 331 fish collected in trawl hauls between October 2011 and July 2014, notes that the species is taken there as bycatch, and cites earlier studies from the Aegean, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It feeds on the bottom; the FishBase list includes crustaceans such as larger amphipods, isopods, shrimps, mysids and small crabs, as well as bivalves, snails, polychaete worms, chironomid midge larvae and occasionally small fish. FishBase says the species spawns more than once and that the male guards the eggs. In the Sea of Marmara, Kırdar and İşmen found the breeding season to run from March to July and the length at first sexual maturity to be 9.58 centimetres.

Why “kaya balığı” is not a single species

In Turkish, “kaya balığı” (literally “rock fish”) works more like the name of a family than of a species. Among the Turkish names FishBase records for Türkiye, the bare “kaya balığı” or “kayabalığı” is given to more than thirty different species of the family Gobiidae. Kırdar and İşmen report that the family has about 2,000 species worldwide, 29 of them in the seas of Türkiye. The word that sets this species apart is “kömürcü” (coalman). For Gobius niger, FishBase lists the names “kömürcü kayabalığı” and “kömürcükayası balığı” in Türkiye, and WoRMS gives “kömürcü kaya balığı” as its Turkish name; Kırdar and İşmen’s Marmara study also uses “kömürcü kayabalığı”. Other members of the family carry qualified names too: FishBase gives “büyük kayabalığı” for Gobius cobitis and “kocabaş kayabalığı” for Neogobius melanostomus. Gobius paganellus, which MarLIN names as a look-alike, appears in FishBase both as “hortumkayası balığı” and as plain “kayabalığı”. Where the name is not enough, go by the Latin name.

Species profile

Black goby
Scientific name
Gobius niger
Family
Gobiidae
Order
Gobiiformes
Water type
Saltwater
Seas
Sea of Marmara, Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean
Other names
Kaya balığı, Kara gobi

Frequently asked questions

Which seas is Black goby found in?

In our records Black goby appears in these seas: Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean, Ligurian Sea — Italy, Tyrrhenian Sea — Italy, Adriatic — Italy, Ionian Sea — Italy, Strait of Sicily — Italy, Sardinian Sea — Italy, Atlantic Ocean — Spain, Mediterranean — Spain, Cantabrian Sea — Spain, Balearic Sea — Spain, Alboran Sea — Spain, Gulf of Cádiz — Spain, Strait of Gibraltar — Spain, Black Sea — Bulgaria, Black Sea — Romania, South coast — Norway, West coast — Norway, West coast — Sweden, South coast — Sweden, North Sea — Denmark, Kattegat and Skagerrak — Denmark, Baltic Sea — Denmark.

In which months is Black goby at its peak?

Peak periods by sea: Sea of Marmara all year; Black Sea all year; Aegean Sea all year; Mediterranean all year; Ligurian Sea — Italy March, April, May, September, October; Sardinian Sea — Italy March, April, May, September, October; Tyrrhenian Sea — Italy March, April, May, September, October; Adriatic — Italy March, April, May, September, October; Ionian Sea — Italy March, April, May, September, October; Strait of Sicily — Italy March, April, May, September, October; Mediterranean — Spain March, April, May, September, October; Alboran Sea — Spain March, April, May, September, October; Strait of Gibraltar — Spain March, April, May, September, October; Cantabrian Sea — Spain February, March, April, August, September; Atlantic Ocean — Spain February, March, April, August, September; Balearic Sea — Spain March, April, May, September, October; Gulf of Cádiz — Spain March, April, May, September, October; Black Sea — Bulgaria all year; Black Sea — Romania May–August; South coast — Norway May–October; West coast — Norway May–October; South coast — Sweden May–October; West coast — Sweden May–October; North Sea — Denmark May–October; Kattegat and Skagerrak — Denmark May–October; Baltic Sea — Denmark May–October.

Which bait is Black goby caught with?

Baits and lures on record: worm, shrimp, mussel, European anchovy, Atlantic horse mackerel, micro soft plastic, European sprat, European sardine, mamun, sülünez, European squid.

How big does the black goby grow?

The sources do not give the same upper limit. FishBase lists a maximum length of 25.3 centimetres total length; MarLIN says the species grows to 17 centimetres, and Kovačić and colleagues give the known adult size as about 15–18 centimetres. The 331 fish Kırdar and İşmen measured in the Sea of Marmara ranged from 6.2 to 14.2 centimetres in total length, averaging 10.28 centimetres. FishBase gives the maximum reported age as 5 years; the Marmara sample was made up of age groups 0–4.

Is every “kaya balığı” the same species?

No. Among the Turkish names FishBase records for Türkiye, the bare “kaya balığı” or “kayabalığı” is given to more than thirty species of the family Gobiidae. This page covers only Gobius niger; FishBase calls it “kömürcü kayabalığı” and WoRMS “kömürcü kaya balığı”. To tell it apart, look for the marks listed by FishBase and by Kovačić and colleagues: the black spot at the front of each dorsal fin, and the long, pointed first dorsal fin of mature males.

Does the black goby live only among rocks?

For Gobius niger the sources say no. FishBase describes it in estuaries, lagoons and inshore waters, over sand or mud, in seagrass or among algae. MarLIN also says the species prefers sand and mud, and that the similar Gobius paganellus is the one that lives in rocky areas. According to Kovačić and colleagues, it is found mostly on sheltered or muddy bottoms and in coastal lagoons.

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