A chestnut-brown blenny of shallow surge-swept rock, spotted on the head and fringed across the nape, thirteen centimeters (5 in) long and almost always somewhere it can vanish into within one hop.
Blennies have no swim bladder. That single fact explains almost everything about how they live: they cannot hover, they sink when they stop, and swimming any distance is expensive - so they perch, hop, dart, and organize their whole lives around a hole they can reach in one movement.
This one grazes algal turf off rock in fast pecks, holding position in surge that would push a similar-sized fish off the reef, using thickened pelvic fins as feet.
When it does retreat, it reverses in tail-first and blocks the entrance with its head, which is both a door and a viewing position. That head sticking out of a hole is what most photographs of blennies are.
The genus. Cirripectes Swainson 1839 - cirrus (curl or tendril). ETYFish
The species. Cirripectes castaneus (Valenciennes 1836) - chestnut. ETYFish
- chestnut-brown body, darker in front, with fine pale spots on the head
- fringe of short filaments across the nape
- wedged into a hole with only the head showing when disturbed
- length up to 13 cm
Why it's threatened
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
