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Clinids are blennioids; perciform marine
fishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
of the family
Clinidae. Temperate blennies, the family ranges from the
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
,
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
s, in both the
SouthernThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
and
Northern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
. The family contains approximately 86 species in 20 genera, the 60 centimetre long
giant kelpfishThe Giant Kelpfish is a marine fish found on the west coast of North America. It is found from British Columbia to southern Baja California....
(
Heterostichus rostratus) being the largest; most are far smaller.
With small cycloid scales, clinoid blennies may have a deep or slender build; some members of the family bear the name "snake blenny" and "eel blenny" for this reason. Dorsal spines outnumber soft rays; there are two spines in the anal fin. Like many other blennies, clinids possess whisker-like structures on the head called
cirri.
The majority of species possess rich, highly variable coloration in shades of reddish brown to olive, often with cryptic patterns; this suits the lifestyle of clinid blennies, which frequent areas of dense weed or
kelpKelps are large seaweeds belonging to the brown algae in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera....
. Generally staying within intertidal zones to depths of about 40 metres, some species are also found in tide pools. Eggs are deposited on kelp for the male to guard. Clinids feed primarily on small
crustaceanCrustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s and mollusks.
The name
clinid derives from the
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
klinein meaning "sloping", a reference to the shape of the
sphenoid boneThe sphenoid bone is an unpaired bone situated at the base of the skull in front of the temporal bone and basilar part of the occipital bone.The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones that articulate to form the orbit...
.
Genera
- Genus Blennioclinus
Blennioclinus is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Atlantic and western Indian Ocean.-Species:* Lace klipfish, Blennioclinus brachycephalus * Silverbubble klipfish, Blennioclinus stella...
- Genus Blennophis
Blennophis is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Atlantic ocean.-Species:* Snaky klipfish, Blennophis anguillaris * Striped klipfish, Blennophis striatus...
- Genus Cancelloxus
Cancelloxus is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Atlantic ocean.-Species:* Slender platanna-klipfish, Cancelloxus burrelli * Whiteblotched klipfish, Cancelloxus elongatus...
- Genus Cirrhibarbis
- Genus Climacoporus
- Genus Clinitrachus
- Genus Clinoporus
- Genus Clinus
Clinus is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Atlantic and western Indian ocean.-Species:* Sad klipfish, Clinus acuminatus * Agile klipfish, Clinus agilis...
- Genus Cristiceps
Cristiceps is a genus of weedfish in the family Clinidae.-Species:* Silver-sided weedfish, Cristiceps argyropleura Kner, 1865* Golden weedfish, Cristiceps aurantiacus Castelnau, 1879...
- Genus Ericentrus
- Genus Fucomimus
- Genus Gibbonsia
Gibbonsia is a genus of clinids found in the eastern Pacific ocean.-Species:* Spotted kelpfish, Gibbonsia elegans * Gibbonsia evides * Striped kelpfish, Gibbonsia metzi...
- Genus Heteroclinus
Heteroclinus is a genus of clinids found in the western Indo-Pacific.-Species:* Adelaide's weedfish, Heteroclinus adelaidae * Natal weedfish, Heteroclinus antinectes...
- Genus Heterostichus Girard, 1854
- Genus Muraenoclinus
- Genus Myxodes
Myxodes is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.-Species:* Sailfin clinid, Myxodes cristatus * Myxodes ornatus * Myxodes viridis...
- Genus Ophiclinops
Ophiclinops is a genus of clinids found in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean.-Species:* Earspot snakeblenny, Ophiclinops hutchinsi * Spotted snakeblenny, Ophiclinops pardalis...
- Genus Ophiclinus
Ophiclinus is a genus of clinids found in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean.-Species:* Adelaide snakeblenny, Ophiclinus antarcticus * Shortfin snakeblenny, Ophiclinus brevipinnis...
- Genus Pavoclinus
Pavoclinus is a genus of clinids found in the southeastern Atlantic and western Indian Ocean.-Species:* Pavoclinus caeruleopunctatus * Grass klipfish, Pavoclinus graminis...
- Genus Peronedys
- Genus Ribeiroclinus
- Genus Smithichthys
- Genus Springeratus
Springeratus is a genus of clinids found in the southwestern Pacific and western Indian Ocean.-Species:* Caledonian weedfish, Springeratus caledonicus * Springeratus polyporatus...
- Genus Sticharium
Sticharium is a genus of clinids found in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.-Species:* Dusky crawler, Sticharium clarkae * Sand crawler, Sticharium dorsale...
- Genus Xenopoclinus
Xenopoclinus is a small genus of clinids found in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean. It has two described species.-Species:* Platanna klipfish, Xenopoclinus kochi * Leprous platanna-klipfish, Xenopoclinus leprosus...
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