Sarcastic fringehead

Description

Neoclinus blanchardi Girard,1858 is a salt water fish belonging to the family Chaenopsidae.N.blachardi has a squat head,with protruding eyes and a huge mouth with extendable jaws connected to the head by large elastic membranes,with a body that shrinks and becomes tapered in the long caudal peduncle,ending in a small and rounded caudal fin.The pectoral fins are extremely wide,the dorsal fin and the anal fin are low,straight by short and rigid thorny rays,long all the back and the abdomen.The liveryit is lively but camouflaged: the body is mottled with rust and speckled with white and brown.The eyes are blue surrounded by yellow,the jaws yellow and red,brightly colored.The fins are rust streaked with white,on the dorsal there are one or more blue ocelli. It reaches a maximum length of 30 cm,for 6 years of age.