''Acanthemblemaria spinosa'', the spinyhead blenny, is a
species of
blenny
Blenny (from the Greek and , mucus, slime) is a common name for many types of fish, including several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "true ...
native to the tropical western
Atlantic Ocean and
Caribbean Sea.
Description
The spinyhead blenny has a mottled black, white and red coloration over the entire body, which is rather elongated. As with most blennies, the head of this animal has small, hair-like appendages over the eyes, which are large and red. The dorsal fin has 20 to 22 spines and 13 to 16 soft rays. The anal fin has two spines and 21 to 25 soft rays. It grows to a
total length of .
Distribution and habitat
The spinyhead blenny is native to the tropical western central Atlantic Ocean and the
Caribbean Sea. Its range extends from the
Antilles, the
Bahamas, and
Florida to
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
. It typically inhabits small, rocky reefs surrounded by sand, and is known as a tube blenny from its habit of occupying a hole in a coral or an empty worm tube from which it pokes out its head. Its depth range is down to about .
[
]
Behavior
The spinyhead blenny is most often found on elkhorn coral ''( Acropora palmata)'' and inhabits the empty tubes of vermetid
The Vermetidae, the worm snails or worm shells, are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambigu ...
mollusks
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
and serpulid
The Serpulidae are a family of sessile, tube-building annelid worms in the class Polychaeta. The members of this family differ from other sabellid tube worms in that they have a specialized operculum that blocks the entrance of their tubes wh ...
worms.[ Competition for suitable holes is high and any vacated hole is soon occupied by another blenny from the area. Each blenny remains in its hole, but may be replaced by a larger fish after combat. Blennies displaced by are able to find their way back to their original hole, so they likely do sometimes leave their holes to explore their territories.]aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
, they are entertaining and only require a moderate degree of care. They are reef safe
Reef safe is a distinction used in the saltwater aquarium hobby to indicate that a fish or invertebrate is safe to add to a reef aquarium. There is no fish that is completely reef safe. Every fish that is commonly listed as reef safe are species th ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2204176
spinosa
Fishkeeping
Fish of the Caribbean
Taxa named by Jan Marie Metzelaar
spinyhead blenny
Fish of Aruba