Troy age 12, of Libertyville, Illinois, for her question:
Where does the pike blenny build his tower?
Fishes, as we know, cannot survive out of water. They appear to be rather dumb, homeless wanderers who strew numerous eggs in the water and select their offspring. However, when it comes to the blennies we can forget this fishy folklore. These little fishes survive for hours out of the water. They build homes and defend their families. What's more, researchers report that some of these frisky little fishes are smart enough to recognize a few letters.
Hundreds of different blenny type fishes belong to the sea, each one remarkable in his own way. most of them, enjoy life along beaches among tidal pools in cool, warm or tropical seas. The average blenny is less than six inches lone and he wears a top spinal fin from his head to his tail. a may be striped or decorated with handsome colors or wear a feathery crest on his head.
The shores are patrolled by hunting crabs and sea birds, which makes life in the tidal pools very risky. But the smart little blennies have remarkable ways to protect themselves. Some have a few scales and some have none, but all of them are covered with thick layers of extra slippery slim. Even if you catch a wriggly little blenny, it's hard to hold onto him.
However, his first line of defense is to keep out of sight as much as possible. For this reason he usually builds himself some sort of shelter in the sand or among the pebbles. .he does this by wriggling his body to shift the sand where he wants it. Often he builds himself several little sandy hideaways. He pops out to find food and darts back into another one.
The remarkable pile blennies have very long pike type snouts. They enjoy life in the warn waters off Florida and around Cuba. Their hideaways, are rather :core elaborate tubes and towers., which they build from sane by wriggling their supple bodies in the usual blenny style.
When the home owner is threatened by another pike blenny, both raise their fierce looking dorsal fins and open their long pointed jaws to the full. Usually this is enough to make the trespasser back away. But not always. Sometimes the threat becomes open combat and blenny mouth bites. The victor is the one that bites hardest.
Most female blennies lay small clusters of oval or pear shaped eggs. The male hovers nearby., observing while she places the ball of eggs in a deserted shell or in a crevice among the pebbles. When she swims away, he takes command and stays on guard until the young blennies are safely hatched.
The delightful little blennies are very popular with fish researchers because they adjust well to aquarium life. Studies reveal that most of them have extra large thyroid glands that enable them to live out of water when the tide leaves them high and dry. Other tests proved that they have color vision. And, of all things, a few smart blennies have learned to select food labeled with different letters.