Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system

Español  Contact

Species: Malacoctenus macropus, Rosy Blenny

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

male head - red spots
grey/brown/yellow, many small dark & light spots
upper back +/- bars
inner teeth small
pectoral 15, base scaled
length 3rd pelvic ray > 1/4 longest ray

Malacoctenus macropus (Poey, 1868)

Rosy Blenny

Head slender, snout pointed, flattened; 1 simple cirrus over nostril, a long simple cirrus over eye, a pair of simple cirri on each side of nape, each perpendicular to body axis; upper part of rear end of top jaw covered by bone under eye; small teeth present 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 XXI-XXIII, 8-11; pectoral rays usually 15; pelvic fins with I (internal), 3, last >1/4 length of longest ray, inserted before pectoral base; all fin rays unbranched; 40-45 lateral line scales; pectoral base with scales that are larger than body scales; lateral line tubes or canals at least on front of body smooth scales on rear of body.

Female: head and body tan to brown above, reddish below, heavily peppered with small dark and light spots. Male dark grey above with dark saddles, pink below; a dark grey stripe along upper 1/3 of body interrupted by whitish spots; lower head with red spots and bars.

Reaches 5.2 cm.

Lives in a wide variety of shallow habitats including sponge beds and seagrass beds in lagoons, on barrier reefs and oceanic atolls.

Depth range: 0-8 m, usually < 2 m.

Bermuda to the S Caribbean.


High Resolution Map Download

Species Data Create Report Export as Word File Export as Excel File
Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
Habitat
  • Rocks
  • Sand & gravel
  • Sea anemones
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Submerged vegetation
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
  • Reef and soft bottom
  • 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 worms
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
  • 5.2
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 8