A small mottled brown fish, 6.5 cm (2.6 in), sitting on the bottom propped on its pelvic fins with a branched tentacle raised above each eye. It has no swim bladder and does not hover: a blenny either rests on something or darts to the next thing to rest on.
It lives in water most divers never enter - the shallow rocky edge, the first meter or two, where surge breaks over algae-covered rock. That habitat is why the species is under-photographed despite being common from this sea into the Gulf.
The eyes move independently, and a blenny watching a diver will keep one on the intruder and one on the food, which is the source of the comic expressions in every photograph of the family.
Eggs are laid in a crevice or an empty shell, stuck down by an adhesive pad at the base, and guarded by the male until they hatch into larvae that drift out into the plankton. The male stays with the nest, fans it and chases off anything that approaches - which for a fish this size includes creatures many times its size.
The genus. Antennablennius Fowler 1931 - antenna (tentacle). ETYFish
- small mottled brown fish resting on the bottom, propped on its pelvic fins
- a branched tentacle above each eye, held up like an eyebrow
- long continuous dorsal fin running almost the whole back
- length up to 6.5 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
