Zebra Clingfish, Tomicodon zebra

Zebra Clingfish, Tomicodon zebra. Fish collected from a tidal pool at Km 17, El Tule, Baja California Sur, November 2004. Length: 5.0 cm (2.0 inches).

Zebra Clingfish, Tomicodon zebra. Fish collected by hand off the beach found stranded between waves, Km 21, Cabo Real, Baja California Sur, November 2016. Length: 5.0 cm (2.0 inches).

Zebra Clingfish, Tomicodon zebra. Underwater photographs taken from within Zihuantanejo Bay, March 2023. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Zebra Clingfish, Tomicodon zebra. Photograph taken of fish found out of water “clinging” to rock structure in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, January 2019. Photograph courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

The Zebra Clingfish, Tomicodon zebra, is member of the Gobiesocidae Family of Clingfishes, and is known in Mexico as chupapiedras cebra. Globally, there are twenty-two species in the genus Tomicodon, of which six are found in Mexican waters, all in the Pacific Ocean.

The Zebra Clingfish has an elongated “tadpole” like body that is relatively slender compared to other Clingfish. They are olive-pink or red dorsally with 5 red-brown to black hourglass-shaped crossbars; the front 2 crossbars are broader and most distinct. The areas between the bars have wavy red lines on a tan background. They are off-white ventrally with light bluish tinges. Their anal and pectoral fins are dusky; their caudal fin has a dark base and is white with a wide black bar in the middle; and, their pelvic fins are pale. Their head is also relatively slender with large prominent eyes, a blunt snout, and a mid-sized terminal mouth that opens in the front with incisor and large canine teeth on both jaws. Their anal fin has no spines and 6 or 7 rays; and their dorsal fin has 7 or 8 rays and is located well back in the body. The sucker on their ventral side is disproportionately large and closer to the anus than to the anal fin origin. Their skin is smooth and is without scales.

The Zebra Clingfish are a shallow-water species found in rocky areas within tidal pools exposed to high surf at depths up to 10 m (33 feet). They reach a maximum of 5.6 cm (2.2 inches) in length. They feed primarily on barnacles and small crustaceans. The Zebra Clingfish 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 Zebra Clingfish is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

The Zebra Clingfish is very similar to the Blackstripe Clingfish, Tomicodon myersi, the Cortez Clingfish, Tomicodon boehlkei, the Rosy Clingfish, Tomicodon eos, and the Sonora Clingfish, Tomicodon humeralis, but has a differentiating bar and coloration pattern dorsally.

From a conservation perspective the Zebra Clingfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations. They are too small in stature to be of interest to most.