Species: Parablennius marmoreus, Seaweed Blenny

Parablennius marmoreus (Poey, 1876)

Seaweed Blenny

Body and head compressed; a cirrus with several branches over each eye, no cirri on nape, front nostril with a flap; jaw teeth in single rows, fixed, bluntly pointed, with a canine tooth at rear of top and bottom jaws, canines larger in males; gill membranes free, forming a transverse flap under throat; dorsal fin XII, 17-18, with barely a notch between spiny and soft parts; anal fin II, 19-20; pectoral fin 14; fin rays unbranched, except on tail fin; tail fin bluntly rounded; lateral line in one part, short (11-13 pores), ends under dorsal spines; no scales.

Variable in color and pattern: some fish are entirely yellow; others are pale tan, red-brown or orangish; thin blue bars radiating down from eye; orange spots on head and brown spots on side that may be clustered and in several rows, the central row sometimes forming a broad stripe from head to tail; some fish are whitish with a black stripe along the top of the back of the front 2/3 of the body and another along the upper side that extends through each eye and across between them; an ocellus at front of dorsal fin.

Reaches 10.8 cm.

Lives on rocky, weedy reefs; young sometimes with floating Sargassum.

Depth range: 0-35 m.

New York to southern Brazil.