Blenny
We followed the Wonderpus octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) for most of our hour-long dive. Occasionally it would disappear down an impossibly small hole and emerge a few minutes later. Was it was after prey or trying to elude us? We suspected prey because it didn’t seem very concerned by our presence. In my video, (at the end of this post) a shrimp goby attacks the octopus as it approaches the goby’s burrow. The octopus was undeterred and emerged from the goby’s … Read more
Final thoughts from my 2011 blenny files plus a video from my 2004 archives: We have had a long-running discussion with some of our fishwatching friends about the Starksia blennies, in particular the ones we see in Bonaire. Are they Dwarf (S. nanodes) or Ringed (S. hassi) blennies? Some didn’t seem to fit any description that we knew. In early 2011, the Smithsonian Institution’s Dr. Carole Baldwin and coauthors, published a paper, Seven new species within western Atlantic Starksia atlantica, S. … Read more
The email came on a Friday morning two weeks ago. It was a chatty note from our friend Judy, one of the Blue Heron Bridge Mucksters. “Right now we are seeing seaweed blennies with eggs, cardinal fish with eggs, and seahorses.” Oh, Oh, Oh! Blennies with eggs have been on my hit list forever. I spent many dives this year in Dominica, Bonaire and at the Bridge looking for looking for Redlip (Ophioblennius macclurei) or Seaweed (Parablennius marmoreus) blenny males, … Read more
We could tell the story about how a few years ago, the BlennyWatcher was invited to participate in a Shark Week show pitch at Discovery Channel headquarters (which is worth a visit, if for no other reason than to see the cool kinetic sculpture in the lobby) and how hopes were deflated by an exec who said the treatment needed to be more “bitey”…but we won’t go there. In fact, the show pitch needed much work beyond its lack of … Read more
The blenny is our poster fish but we love all fish, even the big ones; we just don’t talk about them as much. We blog about whatever strikes the BlennyWatcher’s fancy – fishwatching, SCUBA diving, travel – our topics are happily all over the place. It may take us a while to settle into this new blog home but we’re excited about sharing our adventures with you! We celebrate the launch of this blog by introducing Blenny Week, videos created … Read more
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