Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976 is a animal in the Blenniidae family, order Perciformes, kingdom Animalia. Not known to be toxic.

Photo of Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976 (Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976)
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Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976

Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976

Petroscirtes fallax is a small western Pacific combtooth blenny thought to be a Batesian mimic of the venomous Lined Fangblenny.

Family
Genus
Petroscirtes
Order
Perciformes
Class

About Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976

Petroscirtes fallax, commonly known as the deceiver fangbelly or yellow saberetooth blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny that inhabits coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean. This species grows to a maximum total length of 9.5 centimetres (3.7 inches). It is a small blenny species with a body that ranges in colour from yellow to whitish, marked with three longitudinal black stripes. The lowest of these stripes extends onto the base of the pectoral fin, but does not reach the base of the anal fin. Researchers think this species may be a Batesian mimic of the Lined Fangblenny, Meiacanthus lineatus, which has a pair of venomous canine-shaped teeth in its lower jaw.

Photo: (c) Nigel Marsh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nigel Marsh · cc-by-nc

Taxonomy

Animalia Chordata Perciformes Blenniidae Petroscirtes

More from Blenniidae

Sources: GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia, NCBI Taxonomy · Disclaimer

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