Species: Malacoctenus boehlkei, Diamond Blenny

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.