Eyelash Fangblenny

About this species

Meiacanthus atrodorsalis, the forktail blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the western Pacific ocean. This species grows to a length of 11 centimetres (4.3 in) TL. This venomous species can also be found in the aquarium trade. It is also known as the eyelash harptail-blenny, poison-fang blenny or the yellowtail poison-fang blenny.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Meiacanthus atrodorsalis”, 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: 78 records
February: 180 records
March: 130 records
April: 256 records
May: 193 records
June: 243 records
July: 94 records
August: 101 records
September: 118 records
October: 139 records
November: 97 records
December: 52 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–24 m · Deepest record: 58 m

0–10 m: 181 records
10–20 m: 370 records
20–30 m: 254 records
30–40 m: 4 records
40–50 m: 3 records
50–60 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–30 °C

24–26 °C: 12 records
26–28 °C: 58 records
28–30 °C: 437 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Eyelash Fangblenny, Eyelash Harp-tail, Eye-lash Harptail Blenny, Eyelash Harptail Blenny, Forktail Blenny, Lyretail Blenny, Yellowtail Fangblenny, Yellowtail Poison-fang Blenny

Names in 3 more languages

French: Blennie à bande noire
Japanese: Ogonnijigimpo, オウゴンニジギンポ
Simplified Chinese: 金鰭稀棘䲁

Other scientific names: Petroscirtes atrodorsalis, Petroscirtes herlihyi

Similar species

Black-banded Blenny
Meiacanthus grammistes
Doublepore Fangblenny
Meiacanthus ditrema
Freshwater Fangblenny
Meiacanthus anema
Mimic blenny
Aspidontus taeniatus
Black Blenny
Atrosalarias holomelas
Bluespotted Blenny
Blenniella chrysospilos

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).
1,971 open-data records from 1902 to 2023.
Species data updated October 27, 2026.