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Species: Brockius nigricinctus, Spotcheek Blenny

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body: 6-8 black bars
opercular ocellus strong
C black + white bar
male mostly red

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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.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
Habitat
  • Reef only
  • Rocks
  • Corals
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
FishBase Habitat
  • Reef Associated
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Bony fishes
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Mobile benthic worms
  • Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
Egg Type
  • Benthic
  • Data
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • All species
  • Greater Caribbean endemic
  • West Atlantic Endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Continent
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • GC endemic
  • Island (s)
  • All species
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
IUCN Red List
  • Least concern
  • Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 6.7
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 11