Species: Protemblemaria punctata, Chameleon Blenny

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 black to 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: Introduced to the Gulf of Mexico, where it now has populations at Tampa and Veracruz.