Now that Simon has a new ‘baby’, he’s out diving a lot more. He has however switched to videos, so i’ve happily inherited the 5DMKIII and tag along diving.
The last dive we went together, i came across this colourful fangblenny poking its head out through its hole as i swam past. Due to its striking colors , i got up closer to admire it. The first thought that came to mind was ” awww, it looks like its smiling! – how cute “.
The more famous of the fang blennies around Lembeh are the black and yellow Shorthead Fangblenny poking their heads out of Bintang bottles. This one however, is the Bluestriped Fangblenny. Orange in colour with 2 neon blue stripes from snout to tail. Now, these slinky elongated fish are called fangblenny for the 2 sharp protuding curved canine teeth or “fangs” when they extend their jaws. Most blennies feed on skin and scales of other fishes.
I may have thought that the smiley blenny is cute, but then i read the description in the Reef Fish ID Book on these cute smiley blennies and one sentence stood out amongst the rest – ” Occasionally bite divers”. Okaayyy.. i’ll remember that for next time.
