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Lipophrys pholis

(Linnaeus, 1758)


Andy Horton Amphipod. The Cornish coast is so much better than Sussex. 7 May 2012 A short trip to Kingston Beach on a cool evening low spring tide produced a sparse mobile fauna including two small Common Starfish Asterias rubens on the underside of the larger boulders with a chiton Acanthochitona crinita and a Sting Winkle Ocenebra erinacea as noteworthy discoveries. One small Edible Crab, Cancer pagurus, and at least one Hairy Crab, Pilumnus hirtellus, was noted with small prawns only in the pools. Juvenile (first year) Blennies, Lipophrys pholis, were frequently found under boulders on the estuarine (west of the Lifeboat Station) part of the beach. http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Kingston2008.htm

Penny Martin Onchidoris bilamellata again??

Chris Barrett looks like it, to me

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ODoris.jpg

Chris Barrett Thanks Andy

Andy Horton Penny: were they recent photographs? I expect they are. Spawn laying i was recorded in March i on the Sussex coast. But I do not visit the shore in January.

Penny Martin Yes .... taken on Sat 22nd Jan

Andy Horton Late February and march breeding at the Mumbles, Swansea and March and May at Worthing, Sussex. More in May than March.

Terry Griffiths It's been a bit werid this year already have photo's of many speices laying eggs .

Chris Barrett Does anyone have any photos of the egg masses of Lipophrys pholis?

Bernard Picton We have a wreck, the Alistor, in Strangford, where they are often huge and spawning on New Year's Day (traditional New Years day dive).

Bernard Picton That's Onchidoris b. I mean, not Lipophrys.

Chris Barrett Hello my friends. Today, I was examining the stomach contents of a viviparous blenny/eelpout (Zoarces viviparous). I came across what's shown in the attached photo, which to me, looked like a squid beak and mantle. Does anyone agree? If so, I've never come across squid jaws with serrated edges before

Chris Barrett Nereis jaws?

David Fenwick Snr Yes Chris I'd go with that, first thing I thought of when I looked. An isopod like Sphaeroma for the larger piece anyone ? A huge stab in the dark though.

Sabine Katharina Wieczorek Chris is right. I analysed the stomach contents of snow crabs for a year - that's exactly what they are.

Sabine Katharina Wieczorek Polychaete mouth parts.

Sabine Katharina Wieczorek check out Fauchald "the polychaete worms"

Chris Barrett Thanks all. Credit to Seamus Whyte for giving me the answer. Sabine, I will check that out, thank you for the tip! :) Happy Christmas, all!

Andy Horton A Wheeler says it feeds on small crustaceans, occasional fish and molluscs. So can be add polychaetes or worms to the list? Or just occasionally? I would not find committing myself to the guess that worms form an important part of its diet ??? A Wheeler is likely to be quite accurate for the diet of the British fishes (from past experience).

Chris Barrett Thanks for the info, Andy. I also found Scololepsis squamata (whole) inside of a long spined scorpion fish from the same site too. When my diet papers have been written and checked, I will forward them to you. Hopefully some of the prey items might be of interest to you. At the moment, I'd say worms are part of the diet, albeit in very small, insignificant quantities.

Chris Barrett Just had another S.squamata inside Ciliata mustella. From this sample (winter from North Yorkshire), species of Idotea seem to be the major food items in Lipophrys pholis, Taurulus bubalis and Ciliata mustella

Andy Horton Do you do aquarium studies? When you have a list I would be interested in filing diets of rock pool fish

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/fishdata.htm Index page.

Chris Barrett I'm studying for a PhD in marine biology/ecology. I'm looking at coexistence of intertidal fishes in the UK, so I look at things like habitat preference, distribution and co-occurence, dietary preference, etc., so yes, I will have a list when i'm done and would be happy to send it to you.

Andy Horton Diet varies according to location and time of year. T bubalis has a tremendous appetite and it would need to eat a hell of a lot of Idotea to satisfy its belly. Type of teeth is an interesting contrast between the fish mentioned.

Chris Barrett I've made notes in dentition, but haven't really done much else with them. Like you say though, teeth are interesting. I've been doing dietary comparisons between shores, seasons and fishes, so getting a nice data set from it all. I've collected specimens from three sites on the north yorkshire coast and three sites around the Isle of Anglesey. Already, the differences between Anglesey and North Yorkshire are noticeably different, as is the diet composition between summer and winter. Very interesting stuff!

Andy Horton I have been to Cullercoats beach and I remember noting the prevalence of Idotea and the surprising absence of a Palaemon. But this was just one summer visit.

Douglas Herdson Hi Chris, definitely errant polychaete jaws. They look slightly different to the Nereis diversicolor (now Neanthes?) from the Tees estuary that I was working on in redshank gut contents forty years ago but that could just be my memory. You can find the mass of the worms eaten by measuring the width (widest) of the jaws with a micrometer and calibrate this against the jaws and masses of worms you collect.

Andy Horton Glaucus · Marine Wildlife of the NE Atlantichttp://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus/ Thanks for the query. This Yahoo group does not accept attachments, because of the risk of being spammed with viruses. There are several ways to post photographs instead: In the photo albums, i.e. http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus/photos/album/892523806/pic/1919583007/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc which shows the Common Blenny, Lipophrys pholis. The common name Shanny is used in Cornwall, perhaps Devon? Photo album index: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus/photos/album/0/list We also have a popular facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/glaucus/ And a flickr presence: Marine Wildlife of the NE Atlantic http://www.flickr.com/groups/glaucus/

Andy Horton For those who prefer Yahoo for messages. It is not as popular as facebook but the indexing system is better. For photographs and finding them later, flickr is preferred. It is time consuming and awkward to find past messages on facebook. That is a bit of a snag.

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Blenny.htm

Chris Barrett Douglas Herdson, do you know whether it is possible to sex Lipophrys pholis externally/visually?

Douglas Herdson According to the literature breeding males are dark with a light/white upper lip. You are seeing and examining lots. Are you picking up any sexual dimorphism?

Andy Horton Yep, the darkkness is clearly seen when there is a female around.

Becky Hitchin Does anyone know what made these? In a very dark, small crevice in the mid-upper shore

Richard Lord I didn't see your comment before writing a comment on each image - Lipophrys pholis eggs

Becky Hitchin Thanks Richard Lord - they are just amazing! Never seen them before - made my day!

Message posted on Seasearch Identifications on 27 Jul 2013
Taxonomy
Animalia (Kingdom)
  Chordata (Phylum)
    Vertebrata (Subphylum)
      Gnathostomata (Superclass)
        Pisces (Superclass)
          Actinopterygii (Class)
            Perciformes (Order)
              Blenniidae (Family)
                Lipophrys (Genus)
                  Lipophrys pholis (Species)
Associated Species