BLENNIIDAE


Salarias fasciatus, 4.9 cm SL
(photo by Richard Winterbottom)


Salarias fasciatus
(Bloch, 1786)
Jeweled Blenny

D XII, 18-20; A II, 19-21; P1 14; P2 I, 3; V 10 + 26-27 = 36-37.

Body moderately elongate. Supraorbital and nuchal cirri branched. Occipital crest absent in both sexes. Gill opening continuous across ventral surface of head. Dorsal fin shallowly notched. Last anal-fin ray bounded by membrane to caudal peduncle. Several caudal-fin rays branched. Color: color variable, usually olivaceous to brown with irregular dark bars and many round to oblong white spots; a few very small, bright blue spots dorsally on posterior half of body. Size: attaining to 14 cm. Distribution: Indo-West Pacific, including east coast of Africa, Red Sea, Andaman Sea, Ryukyu Islands, Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia. Remarks: usually seen on coral reefs. (Hisashi Imamura)