Tailspot Blenny

The tailspot blenny is a diminutive combtooth blenny named for the dark spot at the base of its caudal fin. Grey to coppery brown, with a grey-blue head and a bright yellow and blue band beneath each large eye, it barely reaches six centimetres. Its blunt head, oversized eyes and small mouth give it a comical look as it perches on rock and swivels to watch the room. It lives in the Western Pacific, recorded from the Philippines and Indonesia, on coastal lagoons and sheltered coral reefs between two and thirty metres. Solitary or in small loose groups, it spends the day perched on hard substrate, darting between crevices to graze the algal film and the tiny invertebrates within it, and reversing into an abandoned worm tube at the first alarm. Keep one per tank: it tolerates most reef companions but resents other blennies of similar shape. A mature aquarium of eighty litres or more, built around ample live rock, supplies the grazing surface and hiding places it needs. Feed a vegetal base of spirulina and nori alongside mysis and enriched brine shrimp, since this omnivore leans carnivorous yet wastes away on bare rock. Cover the tank, because it jumps.