Description: Body thick and long with a large eye, blunted profile, and subterminal, relatively small mouth. Pectoral fins long, reaching past the vent, pelvic fins relatively short. Dorsal and anal fin bases long, caudal peduncle short and narrow. Markings on the head comprise a large patch of variably-sized melanophores uniformly speckling the dorsal aspect of the head, one midline above the tip of the upper jaw, and two along the margin of the preopercle. There is a large melanophore on the inner ray of the pelvic fin not far from the origin and a row of four or five large melanophores along the longest lower pectoral fin ray. Along the ventral midline there is a melanophore at the mid-abdomen and then a row along the anal fin base (one per soft ray) continuing onto the caudal peduncle ending at the start of the accessory caudal fin rays. There are several melanophores at the base of the segmented caudal fin rays and one or two on the dorsal midline of the caudal peduncle. Diffuse internal melanophores line the abdominal peritoneum.
Hypsoblennius invemar larva
Diagnosis: A fin ray count of D-XII,11 A-II,13 indicates Hypsoblennius invemar. This species is the only Caribbean member of the family with as few as 11-12 dorsal fin soft rays. The gill slit in this genus is restricted and does not extend around the isthmus (true for Hypsoblennius, Hypleurochilus, and Chasmodes). The remaining three regional Hypsoblennius spp. have more median fin rays, 14-16 dorsal fin soft rays and 14-17 anal fin soft rays: H. hentz (continental coast US to Yucatan), H. ionthus from US waters (Florida and northern Gulf of Mexico), and H. exstochilus (from the islands of the northern Caribbean). H. brevipinnis from the Pacific has recently invaded through the Panama Canal, and can overlap the fin ray count of H. invemar.
Hypsoblennius invemar, commonly known as the tessellated blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in the western Atlantic Ocean.[3]
The tessellated blenny can reach a maximum length of 5.8 centimetres (2.3 in) TL. The head and front half of the body are bright blue covered with small brick red spots each rimmed in black. On the top of the head the spots often merge to give a net-like pattern. There is a black spot on the head just behind the eye. The dorsal fin has 12 spines and 12 soft rays. The anal fin has 2 spines and 15 soft rays. This fish can be confused with Springer's blenny (Scartella springeri) but that species lacks a black rim to the orange spots that cover its body.[4]
The tessellated blenny is found in shallow waters off the coasts of Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and the Lesser Antilles. Since about 1979, it has also appeared sporadically off the coasts of Texas, Alabama and Florida in the United States.[4] It is seldom found below about 4.5 metres (15 ft) but occasionally occurs down to 18 metres (59 ft). It has become common round the legs of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. It has probably been brought to the region while inside barnacle shells that were fouling the legs of rigs towed there from South America or in barnacles on the hulls of ships.[4]
The tessellated blenny lives inside an empty shell of the large barnacle, Megabalanus tintinnabulum. It is dioecious and the male and female form a pair bond.[3] Fertilisation is external [3] and the male broods a clump of eggs inside the barnacle shell.[4] There is also an association with the hydroid Thyroscyphus marginatus, this species preferring areas where the hydroid is abundant.[1]
The specific name is an acronym, standing for the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas de Punta de Betin in Santa Marta, Colombia, which holds some of the paratypes.[5]
Hypsoblennius invemar, commonly known as the tessellated blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in the western Atlantic Ocean.
