Plagiotremus tapeinosoma

Hit and run blenny | Mimic Blenny | Piano Blenny | Piano Fangblenny | Scale-eating Blenny | Scale-eating Fangblenny | Slender Blenny
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma, adult, NSW, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma, Poor Knights Is, New Zealand, Photo: Andrew Green
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma, Jervis Bay, NSW, Photo: Andrew Green
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Plagiotremus tapeinosoma
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma
Plagiotremus tapeinosoma

Distribution

Temperate Africa, Temperate Australasia, Temperate northern Pacific, Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Slender elongate body, dark upper body with a white underside and a thin white stripe along back. Below white stripe, dark colouring breaks into a series of short vertical bars like piano keys. Moves with sinuous swimming motion, often approaching divers. By luck or design, this species is a close mimic of the eastern hulafish and often lives in vicinity of schools of that species.


Information

Max Size: 14 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 15.8-30.4°C

Depth: 2-20m

Habitat Generalization Index: 21.07

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Common (24.6% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Few (3 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: GJ Edgar. 2008. Australian Marine Life. New Holland, Sydney