mystery blenny in the Tropical West Atlantic

[itziar]

Can anybody help with the ID of the blenny in this photograph? It was ~10 cm (4 inch) long. I spotted it at ~20m (~65ft) on the deck of an artificial wreck in the Gulf of Mexico (Veracruz). It was quite abundant, always hiding in holes, and close to seaweed blennies. I am running short of ideas to ID it... Is this a different coloration of seaweed blennies? I could not see the fine blue lines in the snout, and it had a dark red spot near the gills... Please send suggestions...

Itziar

 

[maractwin]

I'd guess that it's just another color phase of seaweed blenny. The white line on the front of the dorsal fin makes me think it's a seaweed rather than a different combtooth blenny.

-Mark

 

[archman]

yeah, I had a seaweed blenny a couple years back that was so brown, we started calling it the "chocolate blenny". After a few months, our lab began to think that "chocolate blenny" was a legitimate species.

 

[KidK9]

I dunno what it is, but it's a sweet pic.

 

[itziar]

Thanks, that is what I suspected. I thought that the seaweed blennies were supposed to have blue lines in the snout though, and this had none I could tell of. Archman, was your blenny a solid color all through the snout too?

Cheers,

Itziar

 

[archman]

I thought that the seaweed blennies were supposed to have blue lines in the snout though, and this had none I could tell of. Archman, was your blenny a solid color all through the snout too?

Solid brown snout. Of course, someone else made the ID on our particular animal. That person's smarter than me.

 

[itziar]

Execellent, thanks. And thanks KidK9 for the compliments on the picture. My husband will be happy about that one...

 

[Rick Murchison]

When IDing Blennies and Gobies, I'm often reminded of a line from an ornithologist friend. We were exploring some brush on Pt Reyes in California when I spotted a small interesting looking bird, turned to my friend and asked "what's that?"
She said, "That? Oh, that's an LGB"
Well, to me, an "LGB" is a "Laser Guided Bomb" so I said "Huh?..."
She said "Little Grey Bird."
Rick

 

[archman]

We call 'em "LBB's" in Texas.

Little Brown Birds.

 

[Tom Smedley]

We had a 36 inch snapping turtle run across the road in front of us the other night and Rick thought it was a tick.

I tried to enhance the photo of the blenny to get some markings but it's too dark. From the face and positional behavior I would guess that it is a seaweed that's my guess.