Blue-dashed rockskipper

Blenniella periophthalmus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–3 m
Water temperature23–30 °C
Best monthsJanuary, April, and November
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Rose Zappa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Blenniella periophthalmus is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is commonly known as the blue-dashed rockskipper, bullethead rockskipper, false rockskipper, or the peppered blenny. B. periophthalmus are oviparous animals and once they lay eggs, the eggs attach to the surface of the sea floor due to an adhesive coating. B. periophthalmus prefer a depth range of 0–3 meters and can have a maximum body length of 10 centimeters.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 28 records
February: 15 records
March: 16 records
April: 40 records
May: 28 records
June: 21 records
July: 25 records
August: 22 records
September: 26 records
October: 22 records
November: 30 records
December: 14 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–3 m · Deepest record: 100 m

0–10 m: 102 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 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: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 6 records
24–26 °C: 32 records
26–28 °C: 91 records
28–30 °C: 89 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Mahomed Desai, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robert Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Blue-dashed rockskipper, Blue-dashed Blenny, blue-dashed rockskipper, Blue-streaked Blenny, Bluestreaked Rockskipper, Bullethead Rockskipper, eyespot blenny, False Mudskipper, Peppered Blenny, red-dotted blenny, Redspotted Blenny

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: Blenio Punteado
French: Blennie périophtalme
Japanese: Hana kaeru uo, Hanakaeruuo, ハナカエルウオ
Simplified Chinese: 圍眼蛙鳚

Other scientific names: Alticops periophthalmus, Istiblennius biseriatus, Istiblennius periophthalmus, Salarias biseriatus, Salarias muscarus, Salarias percophthalmus, Salarias periophthalmus, Salarias schultzei

Similar species

Bluespotted Blenny
Blenniella chrysospilos
Biliton Blenniella
Blenniella bilitonensis
Lined-tail Blenniella
Blenniella caudolineata
Javanese Rockskipper
Blenniella cyanostigma
Dashed-line Blenny
Blenniella interrupta
Mimic blenny
Aspidontus taeniatus

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).
407 open-data records from 1836 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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