Bicolor Blenny
Ecsenius bicolor
Panamic Fanged Blenny
Ophioblennius steindachneri
About
The Panamic fanged blenny is a feisty little reef fish that wedges itself into cracks on wave-battered rocky shores, darting out to chase off anything that gets too close to its patch.
- Depth
- up to 18 m
How to tell it apart
Several similar blennies share these rocky eastern Pacific shores. Check for the eye-spot noted above - it stays fixed while the body's colour shifts with age - to confirm this species.
Appearance
It has a slender, cylindrical body. Juveniles are dark, while adults turn brownish to olive with lighter markings, a dark spot just behind the eye, and broad bands running back from the head that fade out near the pectoral fins. Small fleshy tabs, called cirri, sit above each eye, on the nape, and near the nostril.
Habitat
It lives in the surge zone of exposed, steep rocky headlands, wedging into crevices close to shore in shallow water down to about 18 m. Its range runs along the eastern Pacific from the Gulf of California to Peru, including offshore islands such as the Galapagos.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
