Red-spotted Blenny

The redspotted blenny is a small, peaceful, algae-eating combtooth blenny, pale with orange spots, best known for peering out of holes in the reef with only its head showing.

It lives singly or in small schools over clear coastal reef flats and surge-swept seaward reefs rich in algae growth.

The body is slender and pale white or grey, marked with light brown blotches and plenty of orange spots and stripes. The long dorsal fin looks rather like a comb, and the compact face carries large, multicoloured eyes. That face is often all you will see, since it likes to tuck its body into a small crevice.

This grazer lives on algae, using comb-like teeth well suited to scraping food from hard surfaces, although it can turn territorial around other blennies. It is shy and quick to retreat when approached, yet curious enough to peek straight back out again, which makes it a favourite with divers.

At breeding time a dominant male holds a territory and attracts a harem of females, with larger, brighter males doing best. Females lay sticky eggs at his chosen nest site, and he guards and aerates them until they hatch.