Yellow Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz 1976

Other Names: Deceiver Fangblenny, Reef Sabretooth Blenny, Yellow Sabertooth Blenny, Yellow Sabre-tooth, Yellow-lined Sabretooth Blenny

A Yellow-lined Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes fallax, at Halifax Point, Port Stephens, New South Wales, June 2009. Source: Richard Ling / Flickr. License: CC By Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:

A small yellow to whitish sabretooth blenny with three black stripes on the body, the lowermost stripe extending well onto the pectoral-fin base, but not onto the anal-fin base, a black spot on the outer margin of the anterior dorsal fin, and clear anal and caudal fins.
The Yellow Sabretooth Blenny may mimic the Line Fangblenny, Meiacanthus lineatus, which has a pair of venomous canines in the lower jaw.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2021, Petroscirtes fallax in Fishes of Australia, accessed 25 Jan 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/1082

Yellow Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz 1976

More Info

Distribution	Entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, to Lake Conjola, New South Wales. Elsewhere the species occurs in the west-Pacific. Inhabits lagoon and coastal reefs, sheltered bays and estuaries in depths to 15 m.
Size	To 10 cm in length
Etymology	The specific name is from the Latin fallax (= deceitful or deceptive), presumably in reference to the behaviour of this species in mimicing the venomous Line Fangblenny, Meiacanthus lineatus.
Species Citation	Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz, 1976, Monogr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 19: 42, figs 13, 113. Type locality: One Tree Island, Capricorn Group, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2021
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Yellow Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes fallax Smith-Vaniz 1976

References

Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls.

Brothers, E.B., Williams, D.McB. & Sale, P.F. 1983. Length of larval life in twelve families of fishes at 'One Tree Lagoon', Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Biology 76: 319-324.

Grant, E.M. 1991. Fishes of Australia. Brisbane : EM Grant Pty Ltd 480 pp.

Johnson, J.W. 1999. Annotated checklist of the fishes of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43(2): 709-762. See ref at BHL

Johnson, J.W. 2010. Fishes of the Moreton Bay Marine Park and adjacent continental shelf waters, Queensland, Australia. 299-353 in Davie, P.J.F. & Phillips, J.A. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop, The Marine Fauna and Flora of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(3)

Kuiter, R.H. 1992. Tropical Reef-Fishes of the Western Pacific, Indonesia and Adjacent Waters. Jakarta : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama 314 pp. pls.

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp.

Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to sea fishes of Australia. A comprehensive reference for divers and fishermen. Sydney, NSW, Australia : New Holland Publishers xvii, 434 pp.

Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1990. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 507 pp. figs.

Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs.

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1976. The saber-toothed blennies, tribe Nemophini (Pisces : Blenniidae). Monographs of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 19: 1-196 figs 1-179

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1987. The saber-toothed blennies, tribe Nemophini (Pisces: Bleniidae): an update. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 139: 1-52

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 2005. Petroscirtes pylei, a new saber-toothed blenny from the Fiji Islands (Teleostei: Blenniidae). Zootaxa 1046: 29-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1046.1.3

Springer, V.G. 2001. Blenniidae. pp. 3538-3546 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 6 pp. 3381-4218.

Williams, J.T. 2014. Petroscirtes fallax. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T48342191A48374147. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T48342191A48374147.en. Downloaded on 25 May 2020.