About Ophioblennius atlanticus (Valenciennes, 1836)
Description: Adult redlip blennies, scientifically Ophioblennius atlanticus, grow to between two and four inches in length. Their base body color is chocolate brown with scattered yellow markings. They have blunt heads that bear four branching horns, plus large reddish lips. A paler variant of this species has a shell-white body and a reddish brown head. Distribution and habitat: This species is native to tropical marine habitats of the central Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends along the eastern Atlantic from Senegal to Angola, including nearby offshore islands. In the northeastern Atlantic, it is restricted to the Macaronesian archipelagos of the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores. In the western Atlantic, it occurs off Bermuda, along the coast of North Carolina, and south through the West Indies to Brazil. It has been recorded twice in the central Mediterranean Sea. Ophioblennius atlanticus most commonly lives in shallow, clear waters with coral reefs and rocky bottoms. Adults are typically found at depths between 10 and 20 meters, while this species' eggs are benthic. Reproduction: Redlip blennies reproduce year-round, during the 10 days before and four days after each month's full moon. Males and females pair up within the first three hours of daylight, after which the female moves into the male's territory. The male prepares a nest for egg deposition by excavating a small box-shaped space within his territory, and clearing away coral rubble and dead algal crusts from the space. A single male typically maintains five nests, and the amount of time he spends at each nest correlates with how much females prefer that nest. The most preferred nests generally have a larger inner surface area and volume than less preferred nests. When a female enters a male's nest, she decides whether to mate with him. Larger males with larger nests have higher rates of successful mating than smaller males with smaller nests. Males reduce their feeding during the spawning period. Eggs are laid in a single layer, and the male guards and cares for the eggs by blowing water over them until they hatch into planktonic larvae. Egg batches within a single nest can be at different developmental stages, because male redlip blennies are polygynous and mate with multiple females, meaning the eggs in a nest come from multiple different mothers. Female redlip blennies are also typically polyandrous, so a single female's eggs can be found in multiple different males' nests. A female's choice of mate depends primarily on either a male's genetic quality or his non-genetic quality. Males are considered to have good genes if they have physical traits suited for survival; large body size is generally a marker of good genetic quality. Mating with a good-genetics male produces offspring that inherit favorable survival traits, which in turn helps propagate the female's own genes. Non-genetic quality includes factors like effective parental care. Good parental care does not ensure offspring will inherit good genes, but it does increase the offspring survival rate, which also helps spread the female's genes. Female redlip blennies take both genetic and non-genetic male quality into account when choosing mates. They primarily select males based on size, an indicator of genetic quality. Larger males are better able to protect females and eggs from predators. Additionally, larger male redlip blennies have larger antimicrobial organs in their anal-urogenital region, which they use to prevent microbial infection of eggs. Females also consider a male's allopaternal care, a non-genetic trait, when selecting mates; allopaternal care demonstrates to the female that the male can successfully protect eggs from predators. One statistical study found that female redlip blennies may prefer older males, because a male's age can signal greater survival ability, which correlates with better survival fitness for his offspring.
