Genus of fishes
Acanthemblemaria is a genus of chaenopsid blennies native to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Acanthemblemaria: Greek , akantha = thorn + Greek , emblema, -atos, anything that is nailed, knocked in; also anything with bass or high relief[ 1]
Body elongated; head short and blunt; pointed or blunt spines on snout, below eye, sometimes on top of head; 2 rows of very well developed teeth on the roof of the mouth; 1 pair of branched or unbranched cirri over eyes; cirri over nostrils ; usually with a notch between the spiny and soft parts of the dorsal fin
The 21 recognized species in this genus are:[ 2]
Acanthemblemaria aspera (Longley , 1927) (roughhead blenny)
Acanthemblemaria atrata Hastings & D. R. Robertson , 1999 (Cocos barnacle blenny)
Acanthemblemaria balanorum Brock, 1940 (clubhead blenny)
Acanthemblemaria betinensis Smith-Vaniz & Palacio, 1974 (speckled blenny)
Acanthemblemaria castroi J. S. Stephens & Hobson, 1966 (Galapagos barnacle blenny)
Acanthemblemaria chaplini J. E. Böhlke , 1957 (papillose blenny)
Acanthemblemaria crockeri Beebe & Tee-Van , 1938 (browncheek blenny)
Acanthemblemaria exilispinus J. S. Stephens, 1963 (bluntspine blenny)
Acanthemblemaria greenfieldi Smith-Vaniz & Palacio, 1974 (false papillose blenny)
Acanthemblemaria hancocki G. S. Myers & Reid, 1936 (Hancock's blenny)
Acanthemblemaria harpeza J. T. Williams , 2002
Acanthemblemaria hastingsi H. C. Lin & Galland, 2010 (Cortez barnacle blenny)[ 3]
Acanthemblemaria johnsoni Almany & C. C. Baldwin , 1996
Acanthemblemaria macrospilus Brock, 1940 (barnacle blenny)
Acanthemblemaria mangognatha Hastings & D. R. Robertson, 1999 (Revillagigedo barnacle blenny)
Acanthemblemaria maria J. E. Böhlke] 1961 (secretary blenny)
Acanthemblemaria medusa Smith-Vaniz & Palacio, 1974 (Medusa blenny)
Acanthemblemaria paula G. D. Johnson & Brothers, 1989 (dwarf spinyhead blenny)
Acanthemblemaria rivasi J. S. Stephens, 1970 (spotjaw blenny)
Acanthemblemaria spinosa Metzelaar, 1919 (spinyhead blenny)
Acanthemblemaria stephensi Rosenblatt & McCosker , 1988 (Malpelo barnacle blenny)Acanthemblemaria are mostly filter feeding fishes, they inhabit coral reefs, rocky reefs and abandoned worm and mollusc tubes.[ 4]
They feed mostly on passing benthic crustaceans , zooplankton , benthic worms ,