Species: Protemblemaria punctata, Chameleon blenny

nape - pair fleshy ridges
male D: red + front ocellus
female: raised front D dark blotch

Protemblemaria punctata Cervigón, 1966
Chameleon blenny
Body elongate; head rounded, blunt, its top not spiny; 2 bushy, branched cirri over each eye, in female the front cirrus is better developed, none on nape; nape with 2 fleshy ridges (sometimes absent in females; 1 row of teeth on each side of roof of mouth; dorsal fin XIX-XXI, 15-16, front part of fin slightly elevated in females, a flap along the front of the 1st spine in both sexes; no notch between spiny and soft parts; anal fin II, 21-24; pectoral fin 14 (13-15); pelvics I (internal), 2-3, inserted before pectoral base; all fin rays unbranched; no lateral line; no scales.
Male - head and front body greenish upper back with a row of large dark brown blotches; rear body with many small orange spots; iris red, a pale bar angled back and down from eye across the dark preoperculum & operculum; sexually active fish orange-red fading to yellow with orange spots on rear body; throat and chest bright red; dark, eye-sized spots along base of dorsal fin; dorsal fin reddish, with a green/orange ringed ocellus at the upper front; front half of anal fin reddish, rear half anal yellow; tail fin yellow. Female & juvenile - brown to whitish; a white bar angled down and back from eye; dark bars on upper front body become narrower at rear of body, sometimes dark dots on body; head tan, top lips and snout with orange spots; a dark blotch on raised front part of dorsal fin; rest of fins with tan blotches.
Reaches 5.1 cm.
Lives in empty mollusk shells, on reefs and in mangroves.
Depth range: 2-20 m.
SE Caribbean.
Note: In 2016 an individual was collected near Tampa, Florida; how it was transported there is unclear,

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Brackish
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Habitat
-
- Mangrove
- Reef only
- Estuary
- Rocks
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
-
- Planktivore
- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
-
- Mobile benthic worms
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Zooplankton
- Data
- Egg Type
-
- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Benthic
- Global Endemism
-
- All species
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- All species
- Caribbean endemic
- Continent only
- GC endemic
- Continent
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
-
- 5.1
- Depth Range Min
-
- 2
- Depth Range Max
-
- 20