Bicolor Blenny
Ecsenius bicolor
Shanny
Lipophrys pholis
About
The shanny is a common blenny of rocky shores, tough enough to survive being left out of the water at low tide. It grows up to 17 cm.
Also known as: smooth blenny
- Length
- 17 cm
- Depth
- up to 8 m
How to tell it apart
Many blennies have small fleshy tentacles on the head, but the shanny has none, giving it a smoother, bare-headed look.
Appearance
It has the typical blenny shape: an elongated body and a large, blunt head with big eyes set high up, plus a fleshy ridge on the forehead that grows more pronounced with age. The background colour is brownish with green or yellow spots, broken by five to six dark vertical bars and one large black spot near the front of the dorsal fin. Breeding males turn almost all black, with a white mouth and a pale blue edge to the dorsal fin.
Habitat
Shannies live on rocky shores in the intertidal zone, from Norway to Morocco and into the Mediterranean, and are very common around Britain and Ireland. At low tide they shelter in rockpools or under rocks and seaweed, and they can breathe air when the tide leaves them exposed.
Did you know?
The shanny knows its home turf: it shows homing behaviour, returning to the same favourite rockpool each time the tide goes out rather than settling for any pool nearby.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
