Species: Hemiemblemaria simula, Wrasse Blenny

Hemiemblemaria simula Longley & Hildebrand, 1940

Wrasse Blenny

Elongate; head elongate, pointed, not spiny on top; no cirri on nostrils, eyes or nape; jaws long, lower jaw projecting; top lips on sides of jaws and across front; tip of lower jaw without a pointed fleshy projection; 1 row of teeth on each side of roof of mouth; jaws with an outer row of large, curved teeth and an inner row of small teeth; dorsal fin XXI-XXIII, 17, a slight notch between spines and rays; pelvics I (internal), 2-3, inserted before pectoral base; all fin rays unbranched; no lateral line; no scales.

Color variable: yellowish to greenish yellow above, white below, with or without a broad dark stripe (which may be solid or broken) from the snout, through the eye to tail fin base, widening to a round black spot at base of tail fin; a black spot on outer part of dorsal fin near front; a central black stripe along the center of the snout and nape and along the back at the base of the spiny dorsal fin; eye red. Juveniles: translucent, with a black stripe.

Reaches 11.3 cm.

Lives on reefs, in old worm tubes.

Depth range: 5-17 m.

The Bahamas to the SW Caribbean.