Smooth Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes xestus Jordan & Seale 1906


Other Names: Smooth Fangblenny, Striped Poison-fang Blenny Mimic, Xestus Sabretooth Blenny

A Smooth Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes xestus, at Guam. Source: David Burdick / http://guamreeflife.com. License: All rights reserved

Summary:
A small pale whitish, pale yellowish to greyish blenny with dense spotting and mottling, and a dark stripe from the eye to the tail base. Smooth sabretooth blennies usually live in burrows in sandy and weedy areas.

Cite this page as:
Dianne J. Bray, Petroscirtes xestus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 06 Dec 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1085

Smooth Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes xestus Jordan & Seale 1906

More Info


Distribution

Rowley Shoals, Western Australia, adn the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs in the tropical, Indo-west-central Pacific.

Species Citation

Petroscirtes xestus Jordan & Seale 1906, Bull. Bur. Fish. (U.S.) .1905 25: 433, fig. 110. Type locality: Pago Pago, Samoa.

Author

Dianne J. Bray

Resources

Australian Faunal Directory

Smooth Sabretooth Blenny, Petroscirtes xestus Jordan & Seale 1906

References


Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.

Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21.

Jordan, D.S. & Seale, A. 1906. The fishes of Samoa. Description of the species found in the Archipelago, with a provisional checklist of the fishes of Oceania. Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries (U.S.) for 1905 25: 173-455 figs 1-111 pls 33-53 

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: Blenniidae): an update. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 139: 1-52 figs 1-29

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37408091

Behaviour:In burrows

Depth:1-5 m

Habitat:Reef associated

Max Size:7.5 cm TL

Species Image Gallery

Species Maps

CAAB distribution map