More About Blennies

A Very Unusual Blenny – The Snake Blenny – Xiphasia setifer, a.k.a., Eel Blenny, Hairtail Blenny or Snake Eel Blenny, this Indo-Pacific species is one of my favorites because it is so unusual. We encounter them occasionally, because we frequent their turf – mucky or sandy bottoms. It is difficult to get good footage because they are either entrenched in their burrows or swimming back really fast to escape from us! I shot this video years ago in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, when I found one out feeding:

 

 

When is a Blenny not a Blenny? When it is a Scooter Blenny. Although blennydom should be happy to count such a lovely little fish among its members, the Scooter Blenny is not a blenny – it is a dragonet.

 

 

A Convict Blenny is not a blenny. Even we are guilty of perpetuating this name. Pholidichthys leucotaenia is not a blenny (nor a goby); it is in fact in its own family. The correct common name is Convict Fish. I am obsessed with this fish and will write a complete post about them later. There are lots of photos of the adult on the internet - taken mostly in aquariums. I understand from my aquarist friends that they are much more colorful and not as cryptic as the adults in the wild. Here are photos of the juveniles and the very much larger (and dark) adult:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blenny Invader: The Pacific Red Lionfish has received a lot of press for its unwelcome presence in the Western Atlantic but blennies have also invaded and become established. The Muzzled Blenny, Omobranchus punctatus, a native of the Indo-Pacific, has been reported from the Atlantic, Caribbean, eastern Africa and Mediterranean. The first record of the blenny in the Caribbean was in 1931 when it was described as a new species, based on a specimen from Trinidad. That was corrected in 1975 when the 1931 specimen was found to be O. punctatus. Known also from Panama, Colombia, Trinidad, Tobago and Brazil, the blenny is believed to have been introduced by ship, possibly in ballast water or barnacles.

Thanks for visiting! I’ll post more bits about blennies soon, so please check back in from time to time. Want to tell us about your blenny sightings? Visit our BlennyWatcher FaceBook page and “Like” us.