Fish ID Please!

[fareforce]

I just recieved my shipment of TBS rock, and found this guy:




At first I thought he was a lawnmower blenny, but then I saw the tail. What is he? I am sure he is reef safe, as TBS wouldn't send something that wasn't.

[Jerry W]

Looks like some species of blenny. Never saw it before. Pretty cool!

[reefshadow]

Definately some species of blenny. AFAIK they are not all reefsafe either, so keep an eye on him.

Rare to get a fish in LR, was it shipped dry??? TBS is a good company, but any hitchhiker can be bad.

Good luck with him, he's a jewel.

[coyoteseven]

After Googling for over an hour, I can't find a pic or description that fits your blenny, but there is good news... I didn't find a single reference to blennies being unfriendly to a reef environment. For the most part, they are scavengers, herbivores, detrivores... essential services to the reef ecosystem.

It's a cool looking critter and in all likelihood will be a model citizen.

[Paintbug]

get him in a tank, and get some pics of the entire fish with fins fully extended PLEASE .

there are a few species of blennies that are coral munchers. however i dont think this is one of them.

[fareforce]

He wasn't a hitchhicker. Richard at TBS actually bagged him and shipped him with all the reast of my stuff... All I can say about this order is, WOW!!

I will try to take more pictures later tonight when I get home from work.

[silvers]

there relly commin off the FLA coast I had one in my tank for a little over a year and ich got him. Mine neaver gave me any problem at all and I would love to have another if you cant get an exact ID contact TBS Im shure they would know

[fareforce]

I just got an email back from Richard at TBS, and he said it is a local blenny from here, you will love that fish, he will get to know you and follow you around!

It sure is a cool looking blenny!

[tedmc2]

Nice looking fish. I like the tail. Looking forward to more pics.

Good luck with him. Blennies are my favorite.

[fareforce]

Anyone else have an idea of what type of blenny this is?

[chewie]

I thought it looked like a spooked leopard blenny. If his color patterns stay the way he looks in the pic you posted, I would add it to a tank. If it does change and looks like this http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/ble...neycombblenny/
watch out!

Cool fish none the less.

[Paintbug]

Originally posted by chewie
I thought it looked like a spooked leopard blenny. If his color patterns stay the way he looks in the pic you posted, I would add it to a tank. If it does change and looks like this http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/ble...neycombblenny/
watch out!

Cool fish none the less.

Leopard Blennies dont live off the FL coast

[fareforce]

I tried to get another pic of him, but he is tucked away deep in the rock. So.. Hopefully someone else can tell me what type of blenny it is. I even checked Flordia's marine website, and Grey's reef, and still found nothing.

[Paintbug]

you could try to contact the Florida Museum of Nature History. im sure someone there could positively ID it for you.
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/

[fareforce]

Ok guys I am still on the look out for what this blenny is.. I was looking through fishbase.org, and found this:

Common Name: Zebratail blenny
Scientific name: Hypleurochilus caudovittatus

I however can't find any pictures, or descriptions to confirm this. According to fishbase he wasn't discovered until 1994, and:

Family: Blenniidae (Combtooth blennies)
Order: Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name: Zebratail blenny
Environment: demersal; marine
Climate: subtropical
Resilience: High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months(Preliminary K or Fecundity.)
Distribution: Western Central Atlantic: USA.


Any one else have a guess, or any help?

[fareforce]

Here are a few more pics:

[Paintbug]

i think i may have found him. http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/summary...TOKEN=56865728

that one lives in the FL area.

[Paintbug]

well may be not LOL, i dont know.

[fareforce]

Nope. not him.. but good try! He is in that family..

I was even thinking, what if he wasn't a blenny at all? If you look at his mouth it almost looks like the mouth on a dragonet.. I still have no clue what he eats, but he is still nice and fat... He is in my QT too, so there aren't corals in there. He is either finding left over food, eating macro algee, or something else I have no clue on....

Anyone happen to have this book?

Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas (Reef Set) (Paperback)
by Paul Humann

If you do, could you look in it really quick?

[reefshadow]

No, it it a blenny. The orbital cirri and lack of scales are distinguishing features. Blennies also have a variety of different mouth shapes. Your best bet for ID is going by fin ray count, not colour. Colour can be quite variable from animal to animal.

I'm looking in my Burgess atlas for you, I'll see if it has anything.

[fareforce]

So, I'm still on the search, and I think I might know what he is..
Do you think he is a Male Hairy Blenny? I went to Barns and Nobel, and was looking through "Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas by Paul Humann", and found a picture of him that looks pretty close..

[fareforce]

Originally posted by reefshadow
No, it it a blenny. The orbital cirri and lack of scales are distinguishing features. Blennies also have a variety of different mouth shapes. Your best bet for ID is going by fin ray count, not colour. Colour can be quite variable from animal to animal.

I'm looking in my Burgess atlas for you, I'll see if it has anything.

What are the fin rays, and orbital cirri?

Here are 2 more pics. He is to relaxed in the tank to "fluff" up his fins to get a good shot of the top fin.

[Gdevine]

Originally posted by fareforce
I just got an email back from Richard at TBS, and he said it is a local blenny from here, you will love that fish, he will get to know you and follow you around!

It sure is a cool looking blenny!

Ok, so you say he's a hitch hiker but he's bagged when you receive him? Then you call "Richard" and he says he sent it to you as a some sort of surprise gift?

Then, you don't ask this cat what the hell he sent you to be put in your tank?

Is it me or am I missing something man?

[reefshadow]

I looked in my atlas, but it's pretty lame on the blenny section.

I also did some pretty extensive searching on the net and couldn't come up with anything definative, but pic comparison can be really iffy with blennies. For instance the common lawnmower (s. fasciatus) is highly variable with specimens ranging from almost black all the way to grayish white with many different patterns and colours. I would think the zebra pattern would be a dead givaway but it may not be.

Orbital cirri are the "eyelashes" on many blennies, a pretty concrete ID feature. Fin ray count is used to distinguish many species of fish, usually dorsal or pectoral. Nearly all blennies are scaleless fish.

If I come across anything I'll post it here.

[fareforce]

Originally posted by Gdevine
Ok, so you say he's a hitch hiker but he's bagged when you receive him? Then you call "Richard" and he says he sent it to you as a some sort of surprise gift?

Then, you don't ask this cat what the hell he sent you to be put in your tank?

Is it me or am I missing something man?

When you buy a TBS package, Ruchard almost always sends "extras". He wasn't a hitchhicker. He was bagged and sent as an extra. Richard wasn't sure of the exact name of blenny, but he is a local blenny to his aquaculter site, and they are firendly, and will eat whatever you are feeding the tank, and will also eat algee. I am just trying to figure out what type of blenny he is.