Giant clingfish

For the giant clingfish from Southern Africa, see Chorisochismus dentex.

The giant clingfish (Haplocylix littoreus) is a clingfish of the family Gobiesocidae, the only species in the genus Haplocylix. It is found all down the east coast of New Zealand around the low water mark amongst seaweed, on rocky coastlines. Its length is up to 15 centimetres (5.9 in).^[1] This species was originally described as Cyclopterus littoreus in 1801 by Johann Reinhold Forster,^[2] John C. Briggs subsequently placed it in the monotypic genus Haplocylix.^[3] Its closest relative appears to be the Caribbean deepwater clingfish Gymnoscyphus ascitus.^[4]

Giant clingfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Blenniiformes
Family:	Gobiesocidae
Subfamily:	Gobiesocinae
Genus:	Haplocylix Briggs, 1955
Species:	H. littoreus
Binomial name
Haplocylix littoreus (J. R. Forster, 1801)
Synonyms
Cyclopterus littoreus Forster, 1801