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Home › Ocean Life › Marine Species › Vertebrate › Blennies › Combtooth Blennies

Interesting Facts about Combtooth Blennies

[Phylum: Chordata] [Class: Actinopterygii] [Order: Blenniiformes] [Family: Blenniidae]

The order Blenniiformes contains more than 400 species of percomorph marine fish from the family Blenniidae, the largest group of all blennies.

This segment contains a collection of fun facts about combtooth blennies, including where they live, what they eat, and how these blenniiformids reproduce.

Blenniidae Habitat and Geographical Range

Combtooth blennies are a group of small colourful fish that live in most of the tropical and subtropical oceans around the world.

They are commonly found in shallow coastal marine environments, and especially in parts of the:

• Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Azores, Canary islands)
• Indian Ocean (South Africa, Red Sea, Indonesia, Western Australia)
• Pacific Ocean (Central America, Oceanic Islands, Solomon Islands)

The highest diversity of combtooth blennies occurs near the coral reefs and rocky shores of the Indo-Pacific. Even so, many species are also found in some temperate zones, including the Mediterranean Sea and the coastlines of the eastern Pacific.

Most of the species thrive best in extremely shallow water, at depths ranging between the surface and twenty (20) metres below (65 feet).

Combtooth Blenny Characteristics

The combtooth blenny (family Blenniidae) has several key features that help to differentiate them from other types of blennies and similar sized reef fishes.

For example, the body shape is slender and elongated (almost eel-like), typically less than fifteen (15) centimetres long (between 2 and 6 inches).

They have a large head, and the bulging eyes are located high up on top of the head. Some species also have tiny fleshy tentacles (called 'cirri') to help with camouflage and for sensing movement.

But wait - there's more:

Most of the combtooth blenny family exhibit bright colouration, or they might have cryptic patterns to match their surroundings.

Even though their skin is almost totally scaleless, their laterally compressed body is typically covered with mucus for protection.

The mouth is small but they are armed with fine, comb-like teeth for scraping algae and detritus from rocks and coral (hence the funny fish names of "combtooth").

A long, continuous dorsal fin runs almost the whole length of the body.

They do not have a swim bladder so they're unable to hover.

Instead, they will rest motionless on solid substrates or make "hopping" movements across the rocks.

Some species can survive brief periods out of water, allowing them to move between tide pools or moist rocks.

What Do Combtooth Blennies Eat?

Most species of combtooth blennies are either herbivores (algae grazers) or omnivores. Hence, they will consume planktonic crustaceans, such as copepods, amphipods, and zooplankton as it drifts by.

Even though fangblennies (genus Meiacanthus) are largely planktivorous, some will try to mimic cleaner wrasse in an attempt to get close to larger fish and nip off bits of tissue or mucus.

Types of Combtooth Blenny Fish

How Do Combtooth Blennies Reproduce?

Blennies that live in holes have a nest-based, male-guarded, territorial breeding system. Hence, males occupy and defend their particular hole or pipe, which becomes the nesting site as well as the home.

When the breeding season arrives, a male tries to attract a partner by displaying brighter body colours and special markings. The ritual often involves some bobbing motions, fin flaring, and a little bit of head-shaking near the tube entrance.

Fertile females will visit several males before they select the "right" one - a process usually based on the quality of the nesting tube and the condition (liveliness) of the male.

Egg Laying and Parental Care

An accepting female will enter the male's tube and lay her sticky eggs in a neat layer that clings to the inner walls.

After a successful fertilisation, the male takes on the duty of guarding their eggs until they hatch, sometimes with fervent aggression. He also uses his fins to fan them, to keep them clean and oxygenated.

The eggs hatch as free-swimming larvae that drift into the plankton in open water. After a few weeks, they should have grown enough to settle on the reef and find a suitable crevice to inhabit.

Combtooth Blenny Predators and Threats

Natural predation in combtooth blennies is fairly extensive, but they also face a number of environmental threats from the ecosystem along with some human-induced activities.

In the wild, large reef fishes that eat blennies when they leave their hole are groupers, moray eels, snappers, and wrasses.

Besides that, some of the big saltwater crustaceans, such as crabs and mantis shrimps, also try to attack them if they get close enough.

Other contributing factors for the decline in a few vulnerable areas include certain types of human behaviour (e.g. coral reef destruction and degradation, overfishing, marine pollution, and excessive "wild-catch" for the aquarium trade).

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