Starry Blenny

Salarias ramosus

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Blenniiformes
Family: Blenniidae
Genus: Salarias
Species: Salarias ramosus

The starry blenny (Salarias ramosus) is a dark, white-speckled blenny with branched cirri on its head, often seen resting on coral rubble. Its brown to black body is dusted with small pale spots like stars.

It grows to about 13 cm and lives in sheltered lagoons and on reef slopes with rubble and algae. It is a herbivore, grazing on filamentous algae and detritus, and tends to stay close to a favourite hole or crevice.

The starry blenny occurs in the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where it is found on rubble and algae-covered areas of the reef.