False cleanerfish
Aspidontus taeniatus
Bicolor Blenny
Ecsenius bicolor
About
The bicolor blenny is a small fish with a big personality. It spends most of its life peeking out of a single burrow, often an abandoned worm or shell tube. It darts back inside the instant it feels threatened. It reaches up to 11 cm long.
Also known as: two-colored blenny, two-colour comb-tooth, bicolour blenny, bicolor combtooth blenny, two-tone combtooth-blenny, bicolor coralblenny, two-coloured blenny, two-colored blenny, two-colour combtooth blenny, bicolor combtooth blenny, two-colour comb-tooth, bicolour blenny, two-colour combtooth blenny
- Length
- 11 cm
- Depth
- up to 25 m
How to tell it apart
Divers sometimes mix this species up with other small reef blennies of similar size and shape. The giveaway is the sharp color split described above, rather than a gradual fade or fine stripes and spots.
Appearance
This blenny comes in three color forms. The one that gives it its name is split cleanly in two: black on the front half of the body and yellow on the back half, including the tail. The other two forms are black along the back with a broad white stripe running down the side and a dusky belly. Some of these have a yellow tail instead of a plain one.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
