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Species: Malacoctenus boehlkei, Diamond Blenny

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head yellowish, body - dark bars over diamond-shaped blotches
front D: large yellow ringed ocellus

Malacoctenus boehlkei Springer, 1959

Diamond Blenny

Head slender, snout pointed; a pair of heavily branched nape cirri, a branched cirrus over eye; upper part of rear end of top jaw covered by bone under eye; no small teeth behind outer row of large teeth on upper jaw; no teeth on sides of roof of mouth; dorsal fin XVIII-XXIII, 9-12, notch between spines and rays; pectoral rays usually 15; pelvic fins very long, reach well past anal fin origin, with I (internal), 3, last ray difficult to see, its length <1/4 length of longest ray, inserted before pectoral base; all fin rays unbranched; 40-69 lateral line scales; lateral line tubes or canals at least on front of body; smooth scales on rear of body.

Head yellowish brown, body pale tan; a brown stripe from eye along snout, top of head between and behind eyes dark brown, bordered at the front and behind by yellow; 7 (black in male, brownish-orange in female) pale centered saddles along upper back; lower body with pale spots and a row of ~8 dark, white centered diamonds; a large black, yellow-ringed ocellus at front of dorsal fin.

Reaches 6.4 cm.

Found on both fore-reef dropoffs and lagoonal patch reefs.

Depth range: 2-30 m, usually below 8 m.

The Bahamas 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
  • Sea anemones
  • Corals
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
FishBase Habitat
  • Reef Associated
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Mobile benthic worms
  • Sessile worms
Egg Type
  • Benthic
  • Data
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • All species
  • Greater Caribbean endemic
  • West Atlantic Endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Continent
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • Continental primarily
  • 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
  • 6.4
Depth Range Min
  • 2
Depth Range Max
  • 30