Phallic Blenny, Starksia spinipenis

Phallic Blenny, Starksia spinipenis. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, February 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

The Phallic Blenny, Starksia spinipenis, is a member of the Labrisomid Blenny or Labrisomidae Family, and is known in Mexico as trambollito macho. Globally, there are twenty-nine species in the genus Starksia, of which fourteen are found in Mexican waters, seven in the Atlantic and seven in the Pacific Ocean.

The Phallic Blenny has a bluntly pointed head with short, slender, unbranched cirrus on each nostril, above the eyes and on each side of the nape. They have a pinkish to yellowish head with a whitish body with three rows of clusters of square brown spots that form irregular bars on the sides. They have a narrow pale yellow stripe extending from the snout and through the top of the eye. They have another stripe that extends through the lower eye. There is a dark spot behind the lower portion of the eye and the gill cover is covered with dark dots. The pectoral fin base has several dark dots.  The fins are unmarked with the exception that the dorsal fin base has a row of dark spots. Their anal fin has two spines and 16 to 19 rays; their first dorsal fin has 19 to 21 spines and the second dorsal fin has 8 to 10 rays; their pectoral fins have 13 to 15 rays; and, their pelvic fins have 2 rays. They are covered with scales.

The Phallic Blenny is a shallow water coastal species that are found within sand-weed areas and rocky reefs at depths up to 20 m (65 feet). They reach a maximum of 6.5 cm (2.6 inches) in length. They feed mostly on benthic invertebrates. Reproduction is oviparous with females depositing eggs in protected areas. The Phallic Blenny is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, diet, growth, habitat, longevity, movement patterns, and reproduction.

The Phallic Blenny is ENDEMIC to Mexico and a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found along the entire East Coast of the Baja Peninsula in the Sea of Cortez and along the coast of the mainland from Mazatlán, Sinaloa south to Acapulco, Guerrero.

The Phallic Blenny can be confused with the Brown-spotted Blenny, Starksia poshon (dorsal fin with the red and green spotting), the Fugitive Blenny, Starksia cremnobates (bars on the anal, caudal and second dorsal fin) and the Pinstriped Blenny, Starksia grammilaga (dorsal fin with six to eight dark blotches).

From a conservation perspective the Phallic Pinstriped Blenny is currently considered to be of Least Concern with a wide distribution and stable populations. They are exceedingly small in stature and of limited interest to most.