A blenny that spends much of its life out of the sea. Rockskippers live in the splash zone, and this one climbs onto wet rock above the water line, holds on with its pelvic fins, grazes algae, and skips back in when a wave or a threat arrives.
Breathing out of water is the trick behind it. The fish carries water in its gill chambers and takes up oxygen through the skin as well, which buys it long enough on the rock to feed where nothing else can reach. It has to stay damp - the same animal in a dry patch is in trouble within minutes.
The eyes are set high and move independently, and it can see perfectly well in air, which most fish cannot.
Sixteen centimeters (6 in). Look for it in the last few centimeters of water at the edge of a reef flat, or above it: a tide pool with nothing in it usually has three of these sitting on the rim.
The genus. Istiblennius Whitley 1943 - istios (sail) + blennius (blenny). ETYFish
The species. Istiblennius edentulus (Forster & Schneider 1801) - toothless. ETYFish
- blunt-faced blenny with a fringe of tentacles above each eye
- mottled brown-gray with fine dark ripples across the flank
- out of the water as often as in it, clinging to wet rock
- length up to 16 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no known major threats.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
