Species: Stathmonotus hemphillii, Blackbelly Blenny

Stathmonotus hemphillii Bean, 1885

Blackbelly Blenny

Elongate, worm-like body; short, bluntly pointed head; no cirri on nostrils, over eye, on nape or on preoperculum; large oblique mouth; teeth on front of roof of mouth; rear edge of preopercle covered with skin; dorsal fin composed entirely of spines, with many elements, XLV-LV; anal fin II, 23-29; dorsal and anal fins at most slightly joined to tail fin; pectoral fin tiny, with 4-5 weak rays; pelvics I (internal), 2-3, inserted before pectoral base; all fin rays unbranched; no scales; no lateral line.

Sexually dimorphic colors; variable in males with both dark and light morphs: pale morph may be colorless or with a network of pale spots on cheek and between eyes; dark morph with red to black body, a dark-edged white blotch on cheek, fins edges white, sometimes with white Vs of bars on dorsal and anal fins. Females without body pigment, with a network of 4-6 dark lines from eye down and sometimes up.

Reaches 5 cm.

Lives in hard substrata.

Depth range: 1-30 m, usually in shallow water.

SE Florida and the SW Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas to the northern and western Caribbean.