''Exerpes asper'', the Sargassum blenny, is a species of labrisomid blenny native to 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 ...

and the Pacific coast of

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. According to

Fishbase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

it is currently the only known member of its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, however, the Catalog of Fishes classifies it within the genus ''

Paraclinus ''Paraclinus'' is a genus of labrisomid blennies native to eastern Pacific Ocean and the western Atlantic Ocean. Species There are currently 23 recognized species in this genus: * ''Paraclinus altivelis'' (William Neale Lockington, Lockington, 1 ...

''.

Description

The Sargassum blenny has two quite distinct dorsal fins. The face is elongated and the mouth resembles that of a

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

. There are no cirri. The general colour is brown with patches of silver on the flanks and there are 2 blue eyespots on the posterior dorsal fin. This fish grows to a length of TL.

Biology

The Sargassum blenny lives among

sargassum ''Sargassum'' is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) macroalgae (seaweed) in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral re ...

seaweed or in

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s where it is well camouflaged. It is found among the fronds of floating Sargassum mats. When threatened it tends to curl its head round near its tail and remain motionless, relying on its

cryptic Cryptic may refer to: In science: * Cryptic species complex, a group of species that are very difficult to distinguish from one another * Crypsis, the ability of animals to blend in to avoid observation * Cryptic era, earliest period of the Earth ...

appearance to escape detection.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2192274 Labrisomidae Fish of Mexican Pacific coast Fish described in 1889 Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Barton Warren Evermann