Chaenopsis alepidota

Species infomation

Distinctive features:

1. Multiple blotches behind eye.
2. Females with white dashes along vertebral column.
3. Black blotch at front of dorsal fin.
4. Males sometimes with orange streak on head originating from mouth to edge of opercle.
5. Males sometimes with black throats.
6. Males with blue oddly-shaped blotches along length of midflank of body.
7. Males with ~8 dark bars along body.
8. Males sometimes with black dorsal fin.

Physical description:

Very elongated body. No cirri.

Colouration:

Light tan with a white throat.
Females: Row of small blotches behind eye which blends into a darker brown line across midflank with white dashes along vertebral column. Row of short white lines along top of body. Front of dorsal fin with a orange-red edge on top.
Males: Large brown blotches, one behind eye and another on operculum. Row of ~8 dark bars. Whitish-blue odd-shaped blotches just below midflank. Often with a black throat separated from lighter head by an orange line leading from mouth to opercle edge. When with this colouration, the dorsal fin is black. Otherwise the dorsal fin is a brown mottled with black and dark brown.

Size:

Reaches 15.2 cm.

Habitat:

Found in worm tubes in bottoms composed of sand and rubble

Notes:

Two subspecies, Chaenopsis alepidota alepidota at the Gulf of California and Chaenopsis alepidota californiensis from California to tip of Baja California.