[2] In the basin of the Sea of Marmara, it is a common sight in Manyas, Sapanca, and the Kazoli River in Bosporus Strait.

[8] In August 2011 the monkey goby is registered for the first time in the Evros River (Greece), which is inflows to the Aegean Sea.

[12] In the Danube lakes Yalpug and Kugurluy, the diet of the monkey goby consists of amphipods, molluscs, and Oligochaeta.

Seasonal dietary additions include crabs such as Rhithropanopeus harrisii, sea weed such as Zostera marina, and amphipods such as Marinogammarus olivii.

[16][17] In the 1950s, along the coast of the Gulf of Taganrog in the Sea of Azov, the monkey goby was registered as a host of epizootic of nematodes Tetrameres fissispina and Streptocara crassicauda, which are fatal to ducklings.

[18] In Ukraine the monkey goby is a crucial commercial fish, especially in the Sea of Azov and Dnieper-Bug Estuary.

It plays an important role in the food chain by serving as prey for other predatory fish living in these areas.