''Paraclinus grandicomis'', the horned blenny, is a perciform marine species of labrisomid blenny native to reefs of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

fish so it cruises along above the sandy or rocky seabed and foraging for crustaceans.

Habitat

The horned blenny can be commonly found in shallow waters, between 0 to 3 meters, inhabiting sponges, corals, and

sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...

s. Its habitat choice relies on the abundance of food and shelter from predators, that is why it can be observed occupying seabed clams, oysters, shells, and submerged vegetation like mangroves and seagrass.

Geographic Distribution

The Paraclinus grandicomis inhabits tropical waters that range from Southern Florida through the Lesser Antilles. This species dwells in tropical (10-23N) and subtropical (23-35N) climate zones.

Physical Description

The horned blenny is a brown colored fish covered in pale mottling all over its body and head, Dorsal, anal, and tail fins have dark brown bases, and pale or clear edges. This species is characterized by having elongated snouts that are blunt at the end and a singular large horn called the maxillary bone branching from their heads, additionally thin strands of cirrus cover the nostrils and line its stalk from eyes to dorsal fin. The blenny’s spine is composed of 34-35 small vertebrae, giving it a maximum length of only 4 centimeters.

Ecology

The horned blenny, as well as some other

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

reef fishes, have developed behavioral and physiological

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

s that make them immune to stings of

s. The acclimation process can take several minutes to several hours of being stung repeatedly by an anemone tentacle to build resistance.

Feeding

Horned blennies are

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

fish that do not only feast on seabed worms but also benthic

crustacea 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 ...

; both of these food sources can be found in large quantities at the sea floor of shallow waters where most blennies live.

Sexual Dimorphism

Typically the length of the protruding maxillary bone of blennies is longer in males than in females of the same species, however, proportional differences are maintained among species. the horned blenny, both male and female have their horns located on the anterior half of the skull orbit.

References

grandicomis Fish described in 1881 {{Labrisomidae-stub