WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Molly Miller

Scartella cristata

Also known as: Coral Blenny, Molly Miller Blenny, Reef Blenny, Rock Blenny

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2025
Adult
@Stanleyminor · Privae house on East coast of Florida near St Augustine, United States · April 20171 / 2
01

Overview

Found singly or in pairs, hiding in empty Strombus gigas shells, in algae and holes in the coral and rock, over shallow, rocky areas and tidepools, of coastal shorelines.

Combtooth Blennies are the largest family of blennies, found in both tropical and subtropical waters and freshwater habitats, as the name suggests they have comb like teeth lining their jaws, well suited for scraping food off hard surfaces!
Reef and rock blennies are usually territorial and have their own areas of rock pools which they skip and jump over, scraping algae from the surface of dead corals. Some male blennies have small harems of arguing females.
Males and females often have different colouring and features.

02

How to identify

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Northwest Pacific, Western Atlantic, Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean
  • Exact location · 1
  • Country only · 1
LIVES IN

Found singly or in pairs, hiding in empty Strombus gigas shells, in algae and holes in the coral and rock, over shallow, rocky areas and tidepools, of coastal shorelines.

04

Adult photos 2

05

Discussion 1

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

1 comment

  • Mark· 3 Jan 2017

    Could this photo (6th in) be Fringelip mullets (Crenimugil crenilabis) as the yellowish pectoral fins and the black spot at the upper base of that fin are features of that species?

ALL STAGES
FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

Deep dive

Taxonomy

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderBlenniiformes
  5. familyBlenniidae
  6. genusScartella
  7. speciesScartella cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)

SourcesWoRMSFishBase

06

More in the family

Combtooth Blennies (Blenniidae)