Blenny (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and , mucus, slime) is a

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contra ...

for many types of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

, including several families of

percomorph Percomorpha () is a large clade of ray-finned fish that includes the tuna, seahorses, gobies, cichlids, flatfish, wrasse, perches, anglerfish, and pufferfish. Evolution Percomorpha are the most diverse group of teleost fish today. Teleosts, and ...

marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

are considered "true blennies", grouped under the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

Blenniiformes; its members are referred to as blenniiformids. About 151

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

and nearly 900 species have been described within the order. The order was formerly classified as a suborder of the

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...

but the 5th Edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American Ichthyology, ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classificat ...

'' divided the Perciformes into a number of new orders and the Blenniiformes were placed in the percomorph clade

Ovalentaria Ovalentaria is a clade of ray-finned fishes within the Percomorpha, referred to as a subseries. It is made up of a group of fish families which are referred to in ''Fishes of the World's'' fifth edition as'' incertae sedis'', as well as the orde ...

alongside the such taxa as

Cichliformes Cichliformes is an order of fishes. Its members were previously classified under the order Perciformes, but now many authorities consider it to be an independent order within the subseries Ovalentaria. Families There are two families within th ...

Mugiliformes The mullets or grey mullets are a family (Mugilidae) of ray-finned fish found worldwide in coastal temperate and tropical waters, and some species in fresh water. Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since R ...

and

Gobiesociformes Clingfishes are fishes of the family Gobiesocidae, the only family in the order Gobiesociformes. These fairly small to very small fishes are widespread in tropical and temperate regions, mostly near the coast, but a few species in deeper seas o ...

Families

The six "true blenny" families are: * Blenniidae

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

, 1810 -

combtooth blennies Combtooth blennies are blenniiformids; percomorph marine fish of the family Blenniidae, part of the order Blenniiformes. They are the largest family of blennies with around 401 known species in 58 genera. Combtooth blennies are found in tropical ...

, including the sabre-toothed blennies *

Chaenopsidae 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 ...

Gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they ar ...

, 1865 - pikeblennies, tubeblennies and flagblennies *

Clinidae 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 He ...

Swainson, 1839 -

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 He ...

s, including the

giant kelpfish The giant kelpfish (''Heterostichus rostratus'') is a species of clinid native to the west coast of North America, where it is found from California to southern Baja California. It inhabits rocky areas with kelp and other large seaweeds. Its die ...

* Dactyloscopidae Gill, 1859 - sand stargazers * Labrisomidae

Clark Hubbs Clark Hubbs (March 15, 1921 – February 3, 2008) was an American ichthyologist who was professor of zoology at the University of Texas from 1963 until he accepted emeritus status in 1991. He was a leading figure in ichthyology in Texas, teaching m ...

, 1952 * Tripterygiidae

Whitley Whitley may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom *Whitley, Berkshire, a suburb of Reading *Whitley, Cheshire, a village near Warrington *Whitley, Coventry, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands *Whitley, Essex, near Birdbrook * Whitley, Wigan, Greater M ...

, 1931 - threefin blennies

Similarities with other families

The blenniiformids are superficially quite similar to members of the

goby Goby is a common name for many species of small to medium sized ray-finned fish, normally with large heads and tapered bodies, which are found in marine, brackish and freshwater environments. Traditionally most of the species called gobies have b ...

and

dragonet Dragonets are small, percomorph, marine fish of the diverse family Callionymidae (from the Greek ''kallis'', "beautiful" and ', "name") found mainly in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific. They are benthic organisms, spending most o ...

families, as well as several other unrelated families whose members have occasionally been given the name "blenny". Many blennies demonstrate

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry ...

of other species, such as '' Aspidontus taeniatus''. This mimicry allows the blenny to get up close to fish that would normally let ''

Labroides dimidiatus The bluestreak cleaner wrasse, ''Labroides dimidiatus'', is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia. Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue off ...

'' (the bluestreak cleaner wrasse), clean them. The blenny then takes nips or larger bites out of the unsuspecting fish. There are two genera of blennies that demonstrate

Batesian mimicry Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, after his work on bu ...

- ''Ecsenius'' and ''Plagiotremus''.

Timeline of genera (Myr)

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

Pleist. The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of ...

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:eocene bar:NAM1 from: -55.8 till: 0 text:

Exallias ''Exallias brevis'', the leopard blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans. This species reaches a length of TL. This species can be found in the aquarium trade. It is the only known membe ...

color:miocene bar:NAM2 from: -23.03 till: 0 text:

Clinus ''Clinus'' is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Atlantic and western Indian ocean. Species There are currently 19 recognized species in this genus on FishBase and 22 on WoRMS:Bailly, N. (2015). Clinus Cuvier, 1816. In: Froese, R. and ...

color:miocene bar:NAM3 from: -11.608 till: 0 text:

Blennius ''Blennius'' is a Genus of combtooth blenny in the family Blenniidae. Its members include ''Blennius ocellaris'', the Butterfly Blenny. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: *'' Blennius normani'' Poll, 1949 *'' B ...

color:miocene bar:NAM4 from: -11.608 till: 0 text:

Labrisomus ''Labrisomus'' is a genus of labrisomid blennies native to the western Atlantic ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently 11 recognized species in this genus: * ''Labrisomus conditus'' I. Sazima ( fr), Carvalho-Filho, ...

color:miocene bar:NAM5 from: -11.608 till: 0 text:

Tripterygion ''Tripterygion'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family threefin blenny, Tripterygiidae, the threefin blennies, the species of which are found in the north eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Species * ' ...

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.

Morphology

Blenniformids are generally small fish-only occasionally reaching lengths up to 55 cm, with elongated bodies (some almost

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

-like), and relatively large eyes and mouths. Their dorsal fins are often continuous and long; the pelvic fins typically have a single embedded spine and are short and slender, situated before the pectoral fins. The tail fin is rounded. The blunt heads of blenniiformids often possess elaborate whisker-like structures called cirri.

Behavior and feeding

As generally

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, blenniiformids spend much of their time on or near the sea floor; many are reclusive and may burrow in sandy substrates or inhabit crevices in

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

s, the lower stretches of rivers, or even empty mollusc shells. Some blennies, otherwise known as "rock-hoppers", leap from the water onto rocks in order to reach other pools.Böhlke, J., C. Chaplin. 1994. ''Fishes of the Bahamas and Adjacent Tropical Waters''. Wynnewood, Pa: Published for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by Livingston.Helfman, G., B. Collete, D. Facey. 1997. ''The Diversity of Fishes''. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Moyle, P., J. Cech. 2000. ''Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology – fourth edition''. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Springer, V. 1994. Blennies. Pp. 214-217 in W Eschmeyer, J Paxton, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Fishes – second edition''. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. As far as predation, blennies depend on a secretive lifestyle, hiding on the sea floors in shallow water, with cryptic coloration.

Venom

For protection, there is only one genus that is truly venomous, namely ''

Meiacanthus ''Meiacanthus'' is a genus of combtooth blennies found in the western Pacific and Indian oceans. Many species in this genus make their way into the aquarium trade and several are venomous. The genus name ''Meiacanthus'' is derived from the G ...

''. These fish can inject venom from their mandibular, hollow fangs. They have venom that contains the opioid-like

enkephalin An enkephalin is a pentapeptide involved in regulating nociception in the body. The enkephalins are termed endogenous ligands, as they are internally derived and bind to the body's opioid receptors. Discovered in 1975, two forms of enkephalin ...

phospholipase A phospholipase is an enzyme that hydrolyzes phospholipids into fatty acids and other lipophilic substances. Acids trigger the release of bound calcium from cellular stores and the consequent increase in free cytosolic Ca2+, an essential step i ...

, and

neuropeptide Y Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36 amino-acid neuropeptide that is involved in various physiological and homeostatic processes in both the central and peripheral nervous systems. NPY has been identified as the most abundant peptide present in the ma ...

.Losey GS. 1972. Predation protection in the poison-fang blenny, Meiacanthus atrodorsalis, and its mimics, Ecsenius bicolor and Runula laudandus (Blenniidae). Pac Sci 26(2): 129-139.

Distribution

True blennies are widely distributed in coastal waters, often abundant and easily observed which has made them the subject for many studies of

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

and behaviour. Two of the families, the Blennidae and the Tripterygiidae have global distributions, the Clinidae have a mainly

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

distribution and the remaining three families are largely

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...

. This distribution makes these fish ideal subjects for studies of biogeography. It is thought that the splitting of the

Tethys Sea The Tethys Ocean ( el, Τηθύς ''Tēthús''), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean that covered most of the Earth during much of the Mesozoic Era and early Cenozoic Era, located between the ancient continent ...

by the formation of the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama ( es, Istmo de Panamá), also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien (), is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country ...

combined with

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Salarias sinuosus ''Salarias sinuosus'', known commonly as the fringelip blenny or the crinkle-lipped blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. This species reaches a length of TL. Description A small fish, with maxi ...

'', the

fringelip blenny ''Salarias sinuosus'', known commonly as the fringelip blenny or the crinkle-lipped blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. This species reaches a length of TL. Description A small fish, with maxi ...

File:Blenny hiding in a hole near Gilli Lawa Laut, Indonesia.JPG, Blenny hiding in a hole near Gilli Lawa Laut,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

File:Ugly dude.jpg, Tasmanian blenny in Port Noarlunga,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

File:Blenny in kona 1.jpg, Blenny in

Kona Kona or KONA may refer to: People *Kona (surname) * Dilshad Nahar Kona, Bangladeshi singer also known as Kona Television * ''Kona'' (TV series), a Kenyan telenovela that premiered in 2013 Locations * Kona, Kentucky * Kona, North Carolina * Kon ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

File:Blenny.jpg, Blenny in

File:Blenny in Kona 2008 4.jpg, Blenny in

File:Blenny Hawaii.jpg, Blenny in

File:BulletHead RockSkipper BIGBROW BLENNIELLA.jpg,

Bullethead rockskipper ''Blenniella gibbifrons'', also known as the hump-headed blenny, bullethead rockskipper or picture rockskipper, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans from East Africa in the west to the Hawaii ...

File:Marbled Blenny Entomacrodus marmoratus.jpg, Marbled blenny, ''

Entomacrodus marmoratus ''Entomacrodus marmoratus'', also called marbled blenny or pāo'o in Hawaiian, is a species of blenny endemic to Hawaii. It is commonly found in rocky reefs around the coast of the Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o ...

'' in

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q60613116 * Ray-finned fish suborders