Mottled Twister

With 17-22 soft anal fin rays, 17-25 lateral line scales, 35-42 +1 total lateral scale rows, and the body with an irregular or without a checker-board pattern, extending to level of belly.

Eggs are laid in empty barnacle shells found in rocky areas. The nest is guarded by the male while the eggs are covered with water. Juveniles are found in the intertidal region between August and December (Ref. 13227).

Dorsal spines (total): 18 - 21; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10 - 15; Analspines: 2; Analsoft rays: 17 - 22

Feeding areas include tidepools and in the swash zone as the tide comes in.

Adults are found predominantly in tide pools and upper subtidal areas. Are solitary. They feed mainly on amphipods, isopods, polychaetes, and small gastropods. Males may defend small breeding territories during the breeding season (Ref 13227). Eggs are hemispherical and covered with numerous sticky threads that anchor them in the algae on the nesting sites (Ref. 240). Larvae are planktonic which occur primarily in shallow, nearshore waters (Ref. 94114).

fisheries: of no interest

Bellapiscis lesleyae, the mottled twister, is a triplefin of the family Tripterygiidae, commonly found around the coast of New Zealand in rock pools and down to depths of about 5 m in reef areas of broken rock. Its length is up to 6 cm. The specific name of this blenny honours the New Zealand marine biologist Lesley Bolton who helped Hardy collect fishes in rockpools on the coast of New Zealand, including the type of this species.