fangblenny
Happy Halloween! A decorator crab, Spiny Devilfish, fangblenny and a toothy eel -here are a few “spooky” animals for your Monday morning. The little decorator crab from Pantar, Indonesia, is all dressed up with something, but we’re not sure what. Decorator crabs disguise themselves by plucking bits of algae, sponge or other living things and attaching them to little velcro-like spines all over their shells. Ned saw this one as it staggered across the sand. Every once in a while it would … Read more
Dumaguete, Philippines ~ April 2015 A blenny guarding eggs! The last time I spent a dive watching a male blenny guarding a cache of eggs, was in freezing water with 3 feet of vis – in Florida, of all places! Since that dive (see Blenny Fever), I’ve seen quite a few different species of blenny spawn but their eggs are difficult or impossible to see because they tend to lay them in abandoned worm tubes, shells or crevices. I think this … Read more
This is why they are called Fangblennies! Dr. William Smith-Vaniz’s 1976 monograph, The Saber-toothed Blennies, Tribe Nemophini, was a must-read when we started diving in the Indo-Pacific many years ago, but it was the cover of his publication (see below) showing the recurved canine teeth of the lower jaw, that turned these cute little reef fish into the stuff of nightmares and inspired my quest to see them for myself. Saber-toothed, a.k.a., fangblennies, with the exception of one species in … Read more
April 17th is National Haiku Poetry Day and to celebrate, we offer Blenny Haiku. Please, no judging or heckling – just having a little fun here – but feel free to contribute your own by commenting at the end of this post.
On our recent trip to Bali, I added a new blenny species to my Blennywatcher life list and observed what we are sure was spawning. Excited by my initial sighting, I chased a little Smith’s Fangblenny, Meiacanthus smithi, down the reef, where to my surprise, it joined a milling group, whose attention seemed to be focused on a blenny peeking out of a hole. The blenny in the hole would emerge, gently lunge at one of the group and swim … Read more