Brown Sabretooth Blenny

Fascinating facts about the Brown Sabretooth Blenny

• At just 13 cm long (about 5.1 in), this tiny reef dweller packs a pair of oversized canines into its lower jaw, a bite-ready surprise for anyone who tries to hold it.
• Its body is a patchwork of six dark blotches, white dots and dashes on the upper sides, with a speckled underside that makes it blend into sea-grass beds and seaweed like a living camouflage.
• Unlike many blennies that hide in crevices, the wolf fangbelly often takes up residence inside empty mollusc shells, turning discarded shells into personal apartments.
• When a female lays eggs inside a shell, the male guards them.

At a glance

About the Brown Sabretooth Blenny

Petroscirtes lupus is a combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean. It reaches a length of 13 centimetres (5.1 in) TL and is variably greyish, brown or greenish, with six large dark blotches, white dots and dashes on the upper sides and dark dots below. It has two large canines in the lower jaw that are used for defence; the species is not venomous but can bite if handled. It lives among sea-grass beds, seaweed or the empty shells of molluscs. The female lays her eggs on the interior of a mollusc shell and the male guards them.

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