Fang blennies get their name because they have two defensive fangs on their lower jaws. If a predator gets one in its mouth, the fang blenny will bite its attacker’s mouth. This usually results in them being spit out to freedom.
You don’t have to go far to see something interesting in the water. This Scarface Blenny hangs out around the ladder for getting in and out of the water at my local snorkel spot! I’d seen it before, but not been able to get a photo of it.
A few days ago, I had my camera ready as I approached the ladder. Sure enough, I saw the blenny’s head sticking out from below one of the ladder’s rungs. It quickly disappeared, but I hung on to the ladder to see if it would return. It did, and I was able to get a couple of shots.
I thought this was a Gargantuan Blenny, but when I got home and looked at the photos, I realized that the red eye ring and red marks on the face meant this was actually a Scarface Blenny. Both these blennies are endemic but the Scarface Blenny is slightly smaller than the other.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 147. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
I took this photo of a head of Cauliflower Coral because I was happy about how healthy it looked. Then I saw that I was being watched. This Spotted Coral Blenny was wedged into the coral head, as they do, clearly waiting for me to move on.
Well, it is the last of the month, so time for me to move forward into June and for the blenny to go about his business.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.
These are a couple of fish that spend a good deal of their time sitting, stationary, on coral or rocks. The similarity ends there.
The hawkfish is a predator, waiting for small fish or crustaceans to come within range. The blenny feeds solely on living coral. And while this blenny is probably an adult at about 6 inches long, the hawkfish can grow to twice that size.
I spotted this little blenny out in the open, but as I raised my camera it shot away into its hole in the rock. I was impressed by its lightning speed, but more so by its ability to back into its hole at that speed.
I think this is probably a Bullethead Blenny, though it’s hard to make that determination from this photo.
Yes, there is a fish in each of these photos! The endemic Strasburg’s Blenny is less than two inches long and is easily overlooked. It tends to move about in short, sharp bursts, blends in well when it settles, and is almost undetectable when it backs into its hole. That’s where the blenny is in the top photo.
In the second photo, it’s lying out in the open, but blending in rather well. Can you spot it?
A blenny looks up from a tide pool, blending into its surroundings so that it is hard to spot.
Graham's Island 