''Cirripectes heemstraorum'', the yellowtail blenny, is a species of
combtooth blenny from the
family Blenniidae. It is found in the Indian Ocean where it is known from three South African
specimens and an Indonesian specimen.
It is distinguished from its
congeners by the nape having an extensive black flap on both sides of its neck; 10-13 cirri which are found between the neck flaps; an entire
dorsal fin; 5-6 cirri above the eye, 6-8 cirri on the nose; the males have small dark spots on their body towards the tail which merge to form short black stripes on caudal peduncle, in life the females have a brilliant yellow
caudal fin while in the males only the outer half of the tail is bright yellow.
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 the
South African
ichthyologist
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...
s
Phillip C. Heemstra
Phillip Clarence Heemstra (9 December 1941 – 29 August 2019) was an American-South African ichthyologist. He was born in Melrose Park, Illinois, United States as the son of Clarence William Heemstra and his wife, Lydia (born Epcke). He atten ...
and
Elaine Heemstra
Elaine may refer to:
* Elaine (legend), name shared by several different female characters in Arthurian legend, especially:
** Elaine of Astolat
** Elaine of Corbenic
* "Elaine" (short story), 1945 short story by J. D. Salinger
* Elaine (singer), ...
both of the
South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), is involved in research, education and in applications of its knowledge and research to African fish fauna, for either economic or conservation benefit.
The institute originally estab ...
. They collected all the known South African specimens of this species and took a photograph of a specimen which showed its life colours.
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 ...
were collected near
Cape Vidal in
KwaZulu Natal from a newly created artificial reef and the parental source of the colonisers on this reef is unknown.
[ It is thought that the natural habitat of this blenny is in the vicinity of shores or reefs which are swept by high energy waves and are prone to fast currents.]
References
heemstraorum
Taxa named by Jeffrey T. Williams
Fish described in 1988
{{Blenniidae-stub