Bluestriped Fangblenny, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (Bleeker 1852)

Other Names: Blue-lined Blenny, Blue-lined Sabretooth Blenny, Tube-worm Blenny, Twostripe Blenny

A Bluestriped Fangblenny, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos, at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland. Source: Graham Edgar / Reef Life Survey. License: CC BY Attribution

Summary:

The Bluestriped Fangblenny uses aggressive mimicry to attack larger coral reef fishes and feed on their scales and body tissue. The fangblenny is able to readily approach potential victims by mimicing juveniles of the Common Cleanerfish Labroides dimidiatus, which removes ectoparasites from other fishes. This species has several colour forms, and are capable of changing their appearance based on presence or absence of juvenile cleaner fish, which have a blackish body with an electric-blue stripe along the side.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2017, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos in Fishes of Australia, accessed 20 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4757

Bluestriped Fangblenny, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (Bleeker 1852)

More Info

Distribution	From the Albany region, Western Australia, around the tropical north to southern New South Wales; also Ashmore Reef, Timor Sea, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean, reefs in the Coral Sea, and Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. Elsewhere the species occurs in the tropical, temperate, Indo-west-central Pacific.
Remarks	Not only does P. rhinorhynchos mimic juvenile cleaner fish (Labroides dimidiatus), it can rapidly change colour to blend in with a school of reef fish (typically Pseudanthias spp. and Leptojulis cyanopleura. This may allow the camouflaged fangblenny to change colour in the presence of L. dimidiatus and suddenly emerge from a amongst a school of reef fish to attack passers-by in the guise of a cleaner fish.
Species Citation	Petroskirtes rhinorhynchos Bleeker, Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië 3: 237, 239, 273. Type locality: Wahia, Ceram, Indonesia.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2017
Resources	Australian Faunal Directory

Bluestriped Fangblenny, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (Bleeker 1852)

References

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