The blennioid family Chaenopsidae includes the pike-blennies, tube-blennies, and flagblennies, all percomorph marine

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the order Blenniiformes. The family is strictly tropical, ranging from

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. Members are also present in waters off

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

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. Fourteen genera and 91 species are represented, the largest being the sarcastic fringehead, ''Neoclinus blanchardi'', at in length; most are much smaller, and the group includes perhaps the smallest of all vertebrates, '' Acanthemblemaria paula'', measuring just long as an adult. With highly compressed bodies, some may be so elongated as to appear eel-like; chaenopsids are scaleless and lack

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

s. Their heads are rough and may be armed with spines. There may be 17 to 28 spines in the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

, with two in the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

. The habit of taking up home in abandoned

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

tubes has earned some species in this family the name "tube-blenny". Many will also inhabit empty clam shells, which also serve as nesting sites; males are known to guard the brood. Some species have dorsal fins which are significantly higher towards the head, explaining the moniker "flagblenny".

Crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s make up the bulk of the chaenopsid diet. At least one species found in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, '' Emblemariopsis diaphana'', is known to form a

symbiotic Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term biolo ...

relationship with stony coral, '' Meandrina meandrites''. According to some authorities the Chaenopsidae is not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

if the genera ''

Neoclinus ''Neoclinus'' is a genus of Chaenopsidae, chaenopsid blennies found in the North Pacific ocean along the coasts of California, Baja California peninsula, Baja California, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Species There are currently 11 recognized species ...

'' and '' Stathmonotus'' are included. They propose that ''Stathmonotus'' be included in the family Labrisomidae and that ''Neoclinus'', and the closely related '' Mccoskerichthys'', be placed in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Neoclinini, stating that further study is required to clarify this clade's true relationships.

References

{{Authority control Blenniiformes