Jewelled Blenny
Salarias fasciatus
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Actinopterygii
- Order
- Blenniiformes
- Family
- Blenniidae
- Genus
- Salarias
- Species
- Salarias fasciatus
The jewelled blenny (Salarias fasciatus) is a chunky, algae-grazing blenny with a mottled green-brown body sprinkled with tiny pale spots like jewels. Feathery cirri above its eyes give it a whiskery look.
It reaches around 13-14 cm and lives in shallow lagoons, reef flats and seagrass areas. It spends its day grazing on algae, which makes it popular in aquariums as an 'algae blenny', and it defends a small territory around its shelter.
The jewelled blenny is common across the Indo-Pacific, including the Philippines, where it is found in shallow, algae-rich reef areas and rubble.