Chabot du Lez

Description

Cottus petiti,also called the chabot du Lez in French,is a species of freshwater sculpin,a fish in the family Cottidae.It is endemic to France,found only in a small 3 km stretch of the Lez River in Southern France near Montpellier.The natural habitat is fed by karstic springs which may have enabled the isolated survival of the population through geoglogical history.Now the species may be threatened by habitat loss.The males of this species are typically 56 mm in length.It is part of the Cottus gobio complex,and genetically very close to C.gobio