fa <p><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">The gobies <span style="color:#131413;">are non-commercial</span> <span style="color:#131413;">fishes in the Iranian waters </span><span style="color:#131313;">of the Caspian Sea</span><span style="color:#131413;"> for which </span>population <span style="color:#131413;">dynamics and </span>stock status<span style="color:#131413;"> are poorly known</span>. In this survey, we tried to </span><a name="OLE_LINK24"></a><a name="OLE_LINK23">define</a> </span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">species diversity and catch per unit effort (CPUE)</span></span></span> <span style="color:black;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">of Gobiidae</span></span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"> by using beach seine nets in Salmanshahr, the southern Caspian Sea. <span style="color:black;">From March</span></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"> 2011 to</span> April</span> 2012, </span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">224 specimens </span></span><span style="color:#131413;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">representing</span></span></span> <span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">4 </span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">gobiid species, belonging to</span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"> genus <em>Ponticola</em></span></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"> and<em> Neogobius, </em></span></span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">were caught. <span style="color:black;">The deepwater Goby, <em>Ponticola bathybius</em> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">(Kessler, 1877),</span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"> <span style="color:black;">was the most abundant species with 92.8% frequency.</span> </span><span style="color:black;">The highest </span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">catch per unit effort of gobiid fishes was obtained in spring. The species diversity was highest in spring</span></span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"> according to Shannon&rsquo;s index.</span></span></p> Gobiid fishes, CPUE, Species diversity, Salmanshahr, Caspian Sea 549 556 http://jifro.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-600-74&slc_lang=fa&sid=1 S.M. Kalantarian smk_1272@yahoo.com 100319475328460021311 100319475328460021311 Yes A. Abdoli 100319475328460021312 100319475328460021312 No B.H. Kiabi 100319475328460021313 100319475328460021313 No