''Mccoskerichthys sandae'', the Tufted blenny, is a species of

chaenopsid The blennioid family Chaenopsidae includes the pike-blennies, tube-blennies, and flagblennies, all percomorph marine fish in the order Blenniiformes. The family is strictly tropical, ranging from North to South America. Members are also present ...

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 ...

, found around

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and Panama, in the eastern central Pacific ocean. It can reach a maximum length of TL. This species feeds primarily on small crustaceans including

copepods Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...

, amphipods, and ostracods. It is the only known member of its genus. The generic name honours the zoologist John E. McCosker, who discovered this blenny and who assisted in the collection of the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

and the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours his then wife, Sandra.

References

* Rosenblatt, R. H. and J. S. Jr. Stephens 1978 (15 May) ''Mccoskerichthys sandae'', a new and unusual chaenopsid blenny from the Pacific coast of Panama and Costa Rica. ''Contributions in Science (Los Angeles) No. 293: 1-22.'' Chaenopsidae Monotypic fish genera Taxa named by Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt Fish described in 1978 {{Chaenopsidae-stub