Name: from the Greek blennos, mucus, slime; the name blennie is ambiguous, having been applied to several families.
Genera: 151; 900 species; 6 families.
Region: global, Neotropical; Clinidae temperate.
Habitat: coastal waters.
ZoologyFish;
Size: small, up to 55 cm.
Form: elongated bodies, almost eel-like; relatively large eyes and mouths; blunt heads often possess elaborate whisker-like structures called cirri.
Fins: dorsal fins are continuous and long; pelvic fins typically have a single embedded spine and are short and slender, situated before the pectoral fins; tail fin is rounded.
Habitat: benthic, on or near the sea floor.
Behavior: reclusive, burrow in sandy substrates, inhabit crevices in reefs, the lower stretches of rivers, or even empty mollusc shells. Some are rock-hoppers, leap from the water onto rocks in order to reach other pools.
Color: cryptic.
Protection: ± venom; 1 genus that is truly venomous from their mandibular, hollow fangs, contains the opioid-like enkephalin, phospholipase, and neuropeptide Y.
Behavior: many blennies demonstrate mimicry of other species, allowing them to get up close to fish that would normally let Labroides dimidiatus clean them, then taking nips or larger bites out of the unsuspecting fish.
TaxonomyBlenniiformes are superficially quite similar to members of the goby and dragonet families and other unrelated families.
Blenniiformes was formerly classified as a suborder of the
Perciformes. Fishes of the World divided the
Perciformes into a number of new orders and the
Blenniiformes were placed in the
Ovalentaria, alongside the
Cichliformes,
Mugiliformes and
Gobiesociformes.
Families• Blenniidae: Combtooth blennies, iSabre-toothed blennies.
• Chaenopsidae: Pikeblennies, Tubeblennies, Flagblennies.
• Clinidae: Clinids, including the giant kelpfish.
• Dactyloscopidae: Sand stargazers.
• Labrisomidae:
• Tripterygiidae: Threefin blennies.