Piano fangblenny

Plagiotremus tapeinosoma

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth4–20 m
Water temperature17–30 °C
Best monthsFebruary, April, and May
How commonOccasional

About this species

The mimic blenny or piano fangblenny, Plagiotremus tapeinosoma, is a blenny of the genus Plagiotremus, with a widespread Indo-Pacific distribution including New Zealand from depths of 8 to 30 metres. This species reaches a length of 14 centimetres (5.5 in) TL.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Mimic blenny”, 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: 65 records
February: 257 records
March: 173 records
April: 217 records
May: 202 records
June: 176 records
July: 80 records
August: 59 records
September: 87 records
October: 70 records
November: 25 records
December: 35 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–20 m · Deepest record: 646.5 m

0–10 m: 543 records
10–20 m: 623 records
20–30 m: 121 records
30–40 m: 14 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 17–30 °C

16–18 °C: 7 records
18–20 °C: 3 records
20–22 °C: 50 records
22–24 °C: 8 records
24–26 °C: 35 records
26–28 °C: 87 records
28–30 °C: 311 records

Names and classification

English: Piano fangblenny, Scale-eating blenny, calico blenny, Hit and Run Blenny, Mimic Blenny, Piano Blenny, piano fangblenny, scale-eating blenny, Scale-eating Fangblenny

Names in 2 more languages

French: Blennie piano
Japanese: Tenkurosujigimpo, テンクロスジギンポ

Other scientific names: Aspidontus tapeinosoma, Petroscirtes tapeinosoma, Petroskirtes tapeinosoma, Plagiotremus tapeinosomus, Runula tapeinosoma

Similar species

Bluestriped blenny
Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos
Bicolor Fangblenny
Plagiotremus laudandus
Mimic blenny
Aspidontus taeniatus
Black Blenny
Atrosalarias holomelas
Bluespotted Blenny
Blenniella chrysospilos
Blue-dashed rockskipper
Blenniella periophthalmus

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).
4,200 open-data records from 1857 to 2023.

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