The clubhead blenny (''Acanthemblemaria balanorum'') or clubhead barnacle blenny, is native to the eastern
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, where it occurs from the
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...
along the coast of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
south to
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
.
This fish lives in rocky
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...
habitat in tropical marine waters no deeper than 5 m. It inhabits empty
barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...
shells,
[ in particular those of '']Megabalanus tintinnabulum
''Megabalanus tintinnabulum'' is a species of large barnacle in the family Balanidae. It is the type species of the genus. The specific name comes from the Latin ' meaning a handbell and probably refers to the fact that small groups of barnacles ...
''.[Lindquist, D. G. (1985)]
Depth zonation, micro habitat, and morphology of three species of ''Acanthemblemaria'' (Pisces: Blennioidea) in the Gulf of California, Mexico.
''Marine Ecology'' 6(4), 329-44. The female lays eggs inside the shell and the male guards them. This fish feeds primarily on zooplankton
Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
.[Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Editors]
''Acanthemblemaria balanorum''.
2015. FishBase.
References
Further reading
* Brock, V. E. 1940 (23 Dec.) ef. 13593''Three new blennioid fishes from the west coast of Mexico.'' Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin v. 2 (no. 1): 29–35.
External links
*
Acanthemblemaria
Fish of the Gulf of California
Fish of Mexican Pacific coast
Fish described in 1940
{{Chaenopsidae-stub