#2101 · 🐟 fish
Sand Goby
🇳🇱 Dikkopje ·Pomatoschistus minutus
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Roberto Pillon · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Pascal GIRARD · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Julien Renoult · CC BY 4.0
- 6. © Klaus Kevin Kristensen · CC BY 4.0
- 7. © Sylvain Le Bris · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Pascal GIRARD · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The sand goby ( Pomatoschistus minutus ), also known as a polewig or pollybait , is a species of ray-finned fish native to marine and brackish waters European waters from the Baltic Sea through the Mediterranean Sea and into the Black Sea where it occurs in sandy or muddy areas of inshore waters at depths of from 4 to 200 metres (13 to 656 ft). 3 in) TL. This species is sometimes...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 39 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #30 most seen of the fish in NL.
- 437 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Peter Simon Pallas in 1770 (256 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Sand Goby
- Nederlands
- Dikkopje
- scientific name
- Pomatoschistus minutus
- class
- Actinopterygii
- order
- Gobiiformes
- family
- Oxudercidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 39
- sightings in Europe
- 316
- sightings worldwide
- 437
- GBIF records in NL
- 5,853
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1770 by Peter Simon Pallas
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Oxudercidae
#2086 📷 10Two-spotted Goby
🇳🇱 Blonde grondel
Pomatoschistus flavescens
LC 👀 99 in NL
#2090 📷 10Common Goby
🇳🇱 Brakwatergrondel
Pomatoschistus microps
LC 👀 77 in NL
#2127 📷 10Caucasian Dwarf Goby
🇳🇱 Kaukasische dwerggrondel
Knipowitschia caucasica
LC 👀 11 in NL
#2134 📷 10Painted Goby
🇳🇱 Kleurige grondel
Pomatoschistus pictus
LC 👀 8 in NL
#2244 📷 10Marbled Goby
Pomatoschistus marmoratus
LC 🌍 1.2k seen
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 344748, Wikidata Q1121059, GBIF 2379300, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.