Stanulus talboti

Stanulus talboti, Talbot's blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean. This species feeds primarily on plants, including benthic algae and weeds. This species can reach 4.8 cm (1.9 in) in TL. This fish is also found in the aquarium trade.^[3]

Stanulus talboti
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Blenniiformes
Family:	Blenniidae
Genus:	Stanulus
Species:	S. talboti
Binomial name
Stanulus talboti V. G. Springer, 1968[2]

Description

A small fish, with maximum recorded size of about 4.8 cm. Small unbranched supraorbital, nasal and nuchal cirri. Lip margins smooth. Deep notch in dorsal fin between spiny and rayed sections, dorsal fin attached to base of caudal peduncle by a membrane, anal fin free. There is a stripe of dark brown spots along the body. Above this stripe the back is brown with whitish spots, and the belly is whitish. The underside of the head has small white spots, and there is a dark brown spot at the base of the pectoral fin.^[4]

Distribution

Recorded from Western Australia, the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef, Lord Howe Island, the Ryukyu Islands and the Ogasawara Islands, east into the Pacific as far as Tonga.^[4][1] The type locality is One Tree Island in the Capricorn Group on the Great Barrier Reef.^[2]

Habitat

Usually seen in the surge channels of exposed reefs at depths from 3 to 15m.^[4]

Name

The specific name honours Frank Talbot, who organised the expedition on which the type was collected and who helped collect it, when he was working for the South African Museum^[5] some years earlier.^[6]