Five centimeters (2 in) of blenny living in a hole the size of a pencil, with only its head showing - and found here and nowhere else.
The genus it belongs to has given up swimming almost entirely. These fish have no swim bladder, they perch, hop and dart, and they never leave a hole by more than a body length; a shadow puts one back inside instantly. What looks like a bare patch of coral rock is usually a street of occupied holes, one head each.
It grazes algae and detritus off the rock immediately around its home, so a resident cleans a small circle and stays inside it.
Endemic to the 🌊 Red Sea, common on shallow reef, and completely overlooked - which is the general condition of the blennies. Slow down over a dead coral head and watch for a head that withdraws as your shadow crosses it.
The genus. Ecsenius McCulloch 1923 - senio (six each). ETYFish
- tiny blenny, gray-brown above and paler below, with a dark stripe through the eye
- sits with only the head out of a hole
- no tentacles over the eyes, unlike the rockskippers
- length up to 5 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species, although most species of Ecsenius are likely to be collected for the aquarium trade.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
