Species: Malacoctenus delalandii, Delaland blenny
LL 48-62
Malacoctenus delalandii (Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1836)
Delaland blenny
Head slender, snout pointed; <6 cirri over both nostrils, 12-18 cirri on each side of nape, usually >2 cirri over each 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 jaws; no teeth on sides of roof of mouth; notch between spines and rays of dorsal fin, usually XIX, 10-12; pectoral rays usually 14; pelvic fins 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; 48-62 lateral line scales; no scales on pectoral fin base; lateral line tubes or canals at least on front of body; smooth scales on rear of body.
Grey-brown in male, greenish-brown in female, darker above; a series of 5 dark bars from top to bottom of body between front 1/3 of dorsal fin and end of tail base, extending to edge of dorsal fin; sometimes a broad dark stripe from eye to end of tail base; dorsal fin with dark bars and whitish interspaces; male with an often indistinct vertically oval ocellus on lower edge of operculum, rest of head mottled with green-brown; tail fin sometimes with vertical narrow bars, anal fin with narrow diagonal bars.
Reaches 8.2 cm.
Shallow sheltered rocky reef, rubble and algae, also seagrass beds in turbid water situations.
Depth range: 0-3 m.
Central Caribbean to Brazil.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Brackish
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Estuary
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Reef and soft bottom
- Rocks
- Sand & gravel
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Submerged vegetation
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Data
- Mobile benthic worms
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Benthic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species.
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Also in Brazil
- All species..
- Continental primarily
- Continent
- GC non-endemic
- Extends South of GC
- Continent + Island (s)
- Island (s)
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 8.2
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 3
