About Parablennius marmoreus (Poey, 1876)
Parablennius marmoreus, commonly called the seaweed blenny, has a blunt head, a beak-like snout, and a long, slender body. It reaches a maximum total length of around 8.5 centimetres, or 3.3 inches. Its mouth holds approximately forty comb-shaped incisors, and tufts of branched, slender fleshy structures called cirri sit above its eyes. The fish’s gill slits form a continuous opening across its throat. Its dorsal fin has twelve spines and eighteen soft rays, its anal fin has two spines and nineteen or twenty soft rays, and its tail fin is rounded. Body coloration is variable, ranging in shades of gold, green, tan, or rust, with regularly spaced dark brown mottled blotches. The top of the head is bronze, and a dark stripe originates above the eye, widens above the pectoral fin, and fades gradually as it approaches the caudal peduncle. Some individuals have a blue spot near the front of the dorsal fin. This species can adjust its coloration to match its surroundings for camouflage. The border of the anal fins and the underside of the fish are whitish. The seaweed blenny is native to shallow waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. Its distribution ranges from New York south to Brazil, and includes the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, and Bahamas, where it occurs at depths up to around 10 metres, or 33 feet. Its typical habitat is among limestone boulders, and in rock scoops and basins where the rock surface is covered by algal mats, sea fans, and other invertebrates. It can also be found on reefs, in seagrass meadows, in oyster beds, around human-made structures including pilings, jetties, seawalls, oil rigs, and buoys, and among the roots of mangroves.
