Fishgod Blenny, Malacoctenus ebisui

Fishgod Blenny, Malacoctenus ebisui, Courting Female and Male. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, January 2020. Photograph and identifications courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Fishgod Blenny, Malacoctenus ebisui, Females. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, between November 2019 and March 2022. Photographs and identifications courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Fishgod Blenny, Malacoctenus ebisui, Male. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, December 2019 and November 2021. Photographs and identifications courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Fishgod Blenny, Malacoctenus ebisui, and Reef-sand Blenny, Ekemblemaria myersi. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, November 2018. Photograph courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Note:  Productive discussions and a review of the majority of the photographs above and the confirmation of their identities courtesy of Dr. Phil Hastings, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

The Fishgod Blenny, Malacoctenus ebisui, is a member of the Labrisomid Blenny or Labrisomidae Family, and is known in Mexico as trambollo orado. Globally, there are eighteen species in the genus Malacoctenus, of which fourteen are found in Mexican waters, six in the Atlantic and eight in the Pacific Ocean

The Fishgod Blenny has a shortened elongated body with a uniform depth throughout that tapers gradually at the rear into the tail. The sexes are dimorphic and have different colorations. Males are brown to reddish-brown dorsally with two or three large black patches toward the rear and have a bluish-green belly and tiny white spots on their head. Females are brownish dorsally and yellowish ventrally with several diffuse brown bars across their sides and are covered with numerous white spots. Their head is slender with a pointed snout, protruding eyes, a branched cirrus over each eye, and a pair of heavily branched cirri on the nape. Their mouth is small, opens at the front, and is equipped with one row of large teeth on the upper jaw. Their anal fin has 2 spines and 18 to 21 rays; their caudal fin is square; and, their dorsal fin has 19 to 21 spines, the first being very short, and 10 to 12 rays. They have 11 to 13 gill rakers. They are covered with scales.

The Fishgod Blenny is a small shallow water coastal species found in intertidal shallows, bays, and estuaries in rocky areas at depths up to 21 m (70 feet). They reach a maximum of 6.5 cm (2.6 inches) in length. They are diurnal highly territorial predators that feed on benthic crustaceans including small crabs. Reproduction is oviparous with females depositing eggs in protected areas. The Fishgod Blenny is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Fishgod Blenny is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, southward along the southwest coast of Baja and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala; they are absent from the Sea of Cortez, however I have collected a fish in along the southern coast of Baja California Sur which is technically within the Sea of Cortez.

The Fishgod Blenny can be confused with the Glossy Blenny, Malacoctenus zonifer (throat and belly covered with dark spots) and the Throatspotted Blenny, Malacoctenus tetranemus (elongated dark circus over the eyes).

From a conservation perspective the Fishgod Blenny is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and of limited interest to most.