ANIMALIA

Porifera

Ctenophora

Cnidaria

Mollusca

Annelida

Arthropoda

Other Phyla

Chordata

  Tompot Blenny
 

Common Name(s): Tompot Blenny Scientific Name: Parablennius gattorugine Family:   Blennidae  Usual Size: 20 cm   to 156 g

                         Photograph by Ron Barrett

Identification: A medium-sized blenny, elongate small fish of a large family of fishes that live in rocky areas in shallow water. All true blennies have a continuous dorsal fin; the first dorsal fins are spiny and the remainder are soft. The pectoral finds are relatively large.  Distinguished by a pair of tentacles/lappets over the eye.               Photograph by Andy Horton Usually a deep brown-orange.  Similar species: Red Blenny, Parablennius ruber Coryphoblennius galerita, Lipophrys pholis (Smooth Blenny),  Blennius ocellaris (Butterfly Blenny), Yarrell's Blenny, Chirolophis ascanii The presence of the eye tentacles are definitive. See link below. The first fin does not contain the ocellated spot of the Butterfly Blenny.  Breeding:  Spring  Habitat: Rocky areas below low water mark, rarely intertidal where both similar species are to be found in the summer.  Found on the shore at Dawlish, Devon, in winter only.  Infrequent on the shore in Sussex (1 in 100 visits on favourable tides in spring and autumn).  Food: Small invertebrates including sea anemones. Sharp comb-like teeth.  Range:  See map. The precise distribution around the Irish coast needs further research.  Additional Notes: A common fish familiar to divers.  Dorset Photographs: A Tompot Blenny with red head lappets (tentacles),  a colourful variety that seem invariable in the seas off Dorset. Photograph by Neil Horlock Swanage Pier Picture Gallery (with Tompot Blennies) 5 August 2008 We have just come back from Dorset and while visiting Swanage for the day my son Reece Beechey, who is twelve, went crabbing off of the pier and caught a fish ! A gentleman came over to look and told him it was a Tompot Blenny.  Report from the Beechey Family  15 August 2007 We dived the 'Rosalie' off Weybourne in Norfolk at the weekend and saw a Tompot Blenny. It was a fairly large one and was seen by several divers and we have some photos. According to our books, it has never been recorded on the east coast. Is this as exciting as we think? Report by Rob & Dawn Watson Diving at Welbourne (Sunstar Sub-Aqua)   Tompot Blennies off the Norfolk coast  Photographs by Dawn Watson The diver's that first saw the Tompot Blenny were Dawn and Rob, although there were at least eight people that saw it at the time.  The biogeograhical distribution of the Tompot Blenny around Britain is currently under investigation. The books may just be wrong! They are found off the Sussex coast.  More Information (Aquarium Study) Information wanted: Please send any records of this fish, with location, date, who discovered it, how it was identified, prevalence, common name and any other details to  Shorewatch Project EMail   Glaucus@hotmail.com.  All messages willreceive a reply.  Shorewatch Project Report  Forms Reports:  Hannafore Point, Looe Tompot Blennies, Parablennius gattorugine, are a common sight for shore divers along this coast, although it is extremely unusual to find them resident on the shore. I was very surprised, therefore, to find an adult looking at me from a crevice under a large rock that I moved aside. The fish was very brightly coloured in red and blue, and about 20 cm in length.  When Deanna tried to catch it, it attached itself firmly to her glove with its sharp teeth, and proved somewhat difficult to remove to the bucket! In the aquarium, however, the fish displays none of the usual aggressive tendencies of other Tompots, and will come out of its hole to be stroked when the tank is approached!  Immediately after capturing one Tompot, I found another, much larger at over 30 cm in length, and similarly brightly coloured. Even more strangely, a couple of tiny fish (25 mm or so) that Deanna found under small stones also turned out to be baby Tompots once we had returned home, and they are delightful aquarium residents, bustling about the tank and perching on rocks to watch the other residents.  by Jon Makeham & Deanna Webb (Looe) 26 October 2000 A juvenile Tompot collected from the shore at Worthing is unusual, although I have seen one before this late in the year when the shore fauna is scanty.  AH. 1 May 2004 A very colourful blenny has made a niche for itself in a crevice on the wreck of the  "James Elgan Layne" in Whitsand Bay, Plymouth, Devon. This is a common small fish known as a Tompot Blenny, Parablennius gattorugine, not the similar but more colourful fish known as the Red Blenny, Parablennius ruber, which has only recently been discovered as an inhabitant of the seas around Ireland and Scotland, could be mistaken for the fish in the photograph on the left. The latter discovery would be newsworthy. Previous feature in the "Torpedo" News Bulletin Report, photograph and discovery by Roy Bridgewater and Andy Morris Comment by Andy Horton (BMLSS) Swanage Pier Picture Gallery (with Tompot Blennies) BMLSS Blennies Differences between Blennies & Gobies Links: blennies.htm More Information http://www.mermaid1.demon.co.uk/creature01.htm