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May 24, 2013

Meet the Ringneck Blenny

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© OCEANA / Carlos Suárez

 

I was going through Oceana’s photo database when I came across these little beauties and was amazed by how cute and awesome they look at the same time. There isn’t very much information available on this type of fish, but I was able to track some down.

The Ringneck Blenny (Parablennius pilicornis) is a widely distributed fish, but in Europe it’s found mostly in the Mediterranean, where it lives on rocky shores and around steep rocky walls up to 25 meters deep. This species can have many different patterns and colorations, but must commonly it’s found with up to 9 dusky bands above and dark spots below or pale with dusky marks.

It can grow as large as 12 cm, and feeds on small crustaceans and invertebrates such as polychaets, hydrozoa and bryozoas. It’s a demersal fish, which means that it lives and feeds on the bottom of the sea, where it also lays its eggs.

This fish is not endangered and is therefore not subject to protection laws.  We are working to keep it that way.