Mimic blenny

About this species

The false cleanerfish is a species of combtooth blenny, a mimic that copies both the dance and appearance of Labroides dimidiatus, a similarly colored species of cleaner wrasse. It likely mimics that species to avoid predation, as well as to occasionally bite the fins of its victims rather than consume parasites. Most veiled attacks occur on juvenile fish, as adults that have been attacked in the past may avoid or even attack A. taeniatus.

Text from the Wikipedia article “False cleanerfish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 53 records
February: 75 records
March: 74 records
April: 101 records
May: 82 records
June: 60 records
July: 53 records
August: 40 records
September: 57 records
October: 55 records
November: 42 records
December: 43 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–28 m · Deepest record: 498 m

0–10 m: 76 records
10–20 m: 42 records
20–30 m: 21 records
30–40 m: 7 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C

18–20 °C: 2 records
20–22 °C: 6 records
22–24 °C: 19 records
24–26 °C: 26 records
26–28 °C: 65 records
28–30 °C: 125 records

Photos

(c) Hugh Chan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alicia Christman, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Mimic blenny, Cleaner Mimic, Cleaner Mimic Blenny, False Cleaner, false cleanerfish, mimic blenny, Mimic Blenny, threadfin blenny

Names in 4 more languages

German: Falscher Putzerfisch
Spanish: Blenio Falso Limpiador
French: Blennie mimétique, Faux labre nettoyeur, Faux nettoyeur
Japanese: Nisekurosujigimpo, ニセクロスジギンポ

Other scientific names: Aspidontus filamentosus, Aspidontus tractus, Aspinodontus taeniatus, Blennechis filamentosus, Petrocirtes taeniatus

Similar species

Lance blenny
Aspidontus dussumieri
Black Blenny
Atrosalarias holomelas
Bluespotted Blenny
Blenniella chrysospilos
Blue-dashed rockskipper
Blenniella periophthalmus
Chestnut blenny
Cirripectes castaneus
Filamentous blenny
Cirripectes filamentosus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
445 open-data records from 1827 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.