Pinstriped Blenny, Starksia grammilaga
Pinstriped Blenny, Starksia grammilaga. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, February 2019. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo. Identification courtesy of Dr. Phil Hastings, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.
The Pinstriped Blenny, Starksia grammilaga, is a member of the Labrisomid Blenny or Labrisomidae Family, and is known in Mexico as trambollito estilográfo. Globally, there are twenty-nine species in the genus Starksia, of which thirteen are found in Mexican waters, six in the Atlantic and seven in the Pacific Ocean. They are named for the subtle bars along the rear half of the fish that have been observed in preserved fish. Note: five of the seven species, including this species, were discovered and first reported in 1971 by one of my fish mentors, Dr. Richard Rosenblatt.
The Pinstriped Blenny has an elongated body with a uniform depth throughout that tapers gradually at the rear into the tail. They have a tan body that is covered with dark red square spots arranged in five rows, one at the base of the dorsal fin and four on the body, the head has nine dark orange lines that extend from the tip of the snout to the back of the head and 2 dark red bars on the head, the first extending down from the eyes, and the second down from the gill covers. The mouth has two white bars on the upper lip. The anal, pectoral and pelvic fins are transparent and the caudal fin has broken lines along the rays Their head is bluntly pointed with slender small nape cirri, moderate nasal cirrus and slender eye cirrus. Their anal fin has 2 spines and 16 to 18 rays; their first dorsal fin has 19 to 20 spines; their second dorsal fin has 7 to 9 rays; and, their pectoral fins have 13 to 14 rays. The first anal fin spine in males is elongated and free standing that is a modified sex organ. They are covered with small smooth scales.
The Pinstriped Blenny is a shallow water coastal species that are found within rocky shores and adjacent sand rubble areas at depths up to 30 m (100 feet). They reach a maximum of 3.2 cm (1.3 inches) in length. They feed mostly on benthic crustaceans including amphipods and isopods. Reproduction is oviparous with females depositing eggs in protected areas. The Pinstriped Blenny is exceeding rare and 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 Pinstriped Blenny is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found around the southern tip of Baja and along the coast of the mainland from Mazatlán, Sinaloa to Oaxaca.
The Pinstriped Blenny is a straight forward identification due to its unique markings and is the only Labrisomidae Blenny that has numerous square dark orange spots set in rows along its back.
From a conservation perspective the 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.