9. Benthophilus grimmi Kessler, 1877, Grimm’s Tadpole Goby Benthophilus grimmi Kessler, 1877: 59, pl. V, fig. 13; type locality: South Caspian Sea, south of Baku, Azerbaijan; lectotype: BMNH 1897.7. 5.15, paralectotypes: (7)? NMW 76987 (1), SPU 394 [465/412] (1), ZIN 10893 (1). Etymology: The specific name honors O. von Grimm, the Russian ichthyologist. Distribution and habitat: Western part of the Middle Caspian Sea and the northwest South Caspian Sea from Chechen Island (Russia) to south of Apsheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan (Fig. 11A). Eurybathic, found over a considerable depth range, from 2–227 m under pleio-mesohaline conditions. It reportedly does not enter rivers (Boldyrev & Bogutskaya 2007). No confirmed records from Iran. IUCN: DD (Bogutskaya 2020d).

Published as part of Zarei, Fatah, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Abbasi, Keyvan, Kovačić, Marcelo, Schliewen, Ulrich K. & Stepien, Carol A., 2022, Gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae) of the oldest and deepest Caspian Sea sub-basin: an evidence-based annotated checklist and a key for species identification, pp. 151-193 in Zootaxa 5190 (2) on pages 166-167, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5190.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7120060