''Clinus superciliosus'', the Super klipfish or Highfin klipfish, is a species of

clinid Clinidae is a family of marine fish in the order Blenniiformes within the series Ovalentaria, part of the Percomorpha . Temperate blennies, the family ranges from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, in both the Southern and Northern Hemis ...

that occurs in subtropical waters of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

from northern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

to the

Kei River The Great Kei River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black Kei River and White Kei River, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for and ends in the Great Kei Estuary at the Indian Ocean wi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

where it can be found in the

subtidal The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

and

intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

zones. This species can reach a maximum length of TL. This species feeds on benthic

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

including

amphipods Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far describ ...

isopods Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and ...

and

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

;

sea urchins Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

;

gastropods The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. The ...

;

polychaete worms Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are m ...

and other fishes.

Description

Size up to 30 cm, robust and slightly compressed. Males have tall dorsal crest comprising first three spines followed by deep notch in the membrane and the rest of the dorsal fin,. Females have a lower more rounded crest. The head is large and pointed, with a large mouth and thick lips. Prominent cirri above the eyes, which may be barely branched or quite bushy in mature adults. Colour highly variable, from white through yellow, orange, red, and brown to dark green. A dark mark on the upper part of the operculum is common. Body patterning varies with a few distinct patterns. No pattern, with near uniform body colour; a broad white band from behind the eye, across the opercle, tapering to the caudal fin, which may be continuous or broken, with the rest of the body roughly uniform in colour; or highly mottled with vertical and horizontal bars and bands. Head pattern variable, ranging from broad oblique bars to a complex reticulated pattern. Eyes have broad radiating bars in body colour, red or yellow iris. Pectoral fins in body colour with translucent membrane.Zsilavecz, Guido, 2005. ''Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay: A divers' identification guide.'' SURG, Cape Town.

Distribution and habitat

Namibia to beyond East London. Rock pools to at least 50m depth. Habitat preference roughly follows colouration, but they will also be found on a contrasting background. Pale animals seem to prefer sand, light green on ''

Caulerpa ''Caulerpa'' is a genus of seaweeds in the family Caulerpaceae (among the green algae). They are unusual because they consist of only one cell with many nuclei, making them among the biggest single cells in the world. A species in the Mediterran ...

'' beds, dark green on ''

Codium ''Codium'' is a genus of seaweed in the Chlorophyta of the order Bryopsidales. Paul Silva was an expert on the genus ''Codium'' taxonomy at the University of California, Berkeley. There are about 50 species worldwide. Description The genus h ...

'' and red on red algae.

Taxonomy

Some authors regard ''Clinus superciliosus'' as a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

consisting of the current species and '' C. arborescens'' and ''C. ornatus'', as well as the two species described in 2012 '' C. exasperatus'' and C. musaicus. Fishbase does not recognise ''C. ornatus'', but the

Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously u ...

does.

References

External links

Photograph
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2388638 superciliosus Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus