Species: Brockius nigricinctus, Spotcheek Blenny

Brockius nigricinctus Howell Rivero, 1936

Spotcheek Blenny

Body robust; head relatively slender, snout pointed; eye large; a branched cirrus over each eye, 2 or more heavily branched cirri on each side of nape; mouth large, slightly oblique, rear of top jawbone exposed, not in a sheath; patches of small teeth behind outer row of large teeth on upper jaw; teeth absent on sides of roof of mouth; 10-11 (9-12) gill rakers; large fish with more than 2 pores at tip of chin; notch between spines and rays of dorsal fin, XVII-XIX, 1st spine short, middle spines longest, 10-12; anal fin II, usually 18; pelvic fins with 1 internal spine, 3 soft rays, 3rd ray vestigial, inserted before pectoral base; all fin rays unbranched; 40-44 lateral line scales; lateral line tubes or canals at least on front of body; smooth scales on rear of body.

Body with 6-8 broad blackish bars that extend onto dorsal and anal fins, a well developed black centered ocellus on operculum, a white stripe up center of snout; a dark stripe from snout through eye to edge of operculum; tail fin dark, with a white bar at its base and a white edge at end. Large males with most of body and dorsal, tail and anal fins bright red. Females & small males with a similar patterning but body barring is brown.

Reaches 6.7 cm.

Found in a mixture of clearwater rocky habitats, from tide pools, to rocks on sand to patch reefs to eroded limestone slopes.

Depth range: 0-11 m.

Florida to the S Caribbean.