''Ecsenius caeruliventris'', known commonly as the bluebelly blenny in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, is a species of

combtooth blenny Combtooth blennies are blenny, blenniiformids; Percomorpha, percomorph marine fish of the family Blenniidae, part of the Order (biology), order Blenniiformes. They are the largest family of blennies with around 401 known species in 58 genera. Com ...

in the genus ''

Ecsenius ''Ecsenius'' is a large genus of fish in the family Blenniidae. Several species, including ''Ecsenius midas'', the Midas blenny, and ''Ecsenius bicolor'', the bicolor blenny, are commonly sold at aquarium stores as pets. Species There are curren ...

''. It is a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

blenny found in the western

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

ocean, specifically in

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

, Indonesia. Male ''Ecsenius caeruliventris'' can reach a maximum length of 2.4 centimetres, while females can reach a maximum length of 2.37 centimetres; it is one of the smallest blennies in ''Ecsenius''. The species name means "sky-blue belly" from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

words ''caeruleus'' and ''ventris'', referring to the blue abdomen on the species; the common name is derived from this. The species is most similar to its sister taxon '' E. shirleyae'' and '' E. bandanus''."''Ecsenius caeruliventris'' and ''E. shirleyae'', two new species of blenniid fishes from Indonesia, and new distribution records for other species of ''Ecsenius''"
Victor G. Springer & Gerald R. Allen, 2004. ''

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week ...

'', ISSN 1175-5334 ''Ecsenius caeruliventris'' are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

, and guard their eggs. The blennies swim at a depth range of 3–5 metres.

References

caeruliventris Fish described in 2004 Taxa named by Victor G. Springer Taxa named by Gerald R. Allen {{Blenniidae-stub