Photo by Guido Zsilavecz
Photo by Guido Zsilavecz
A lace klipfish, Blennioclinus brachycephalus, showing the ocelate spot. Photo by Guido Zsilavecz
This fish was described by JLB Smith in 1960, from a single specimen caught off the Knysna Heads. The image in the paper seems to be the only colour image available, as it is used in JLB and MM Smiths' 1966 Fishes of the Tsitsikama Coastal National Park book (a small, green book with a roman on the cover - quite often available in second hand book shops), and Smiths' Sea Fishes. ML Penrith re-described it in her systematics, re-drawing it as well, although without colour, using the specimen Smith caught as an example. Dr. Kim Prochazka, then at UCT, caught one at Miller's Point, sometime before 2001.
Knowing it occurs in the area I have been searching for it ever since, especially at deeper sites, with no luck. Then suddenly I see two on one dive. Both were small, maybe 4-5cm in length, but the ocelate spot on the opercle (gill cover) is very distinctive, as the photos show, and there was no doubt that this was the fish that had eluded me for so long!
Compared to many of the other Pavoclinus members, the deepwater klipfish does not have a crest, but in overall appearance, especially the head, is clearly a member of that genus. Compare it with bluespotted klipfish, Pavoclinus caeruleopunctatus, in the Q and A section, for example, to see the family relationship quite clearly.
There is another klipfish, the lace klipfish Blennioclinus brachycephalus which also has a distinct ocelate spot on the body, but apart from a green centre surrounded by red (as opposed to green surrounded by orange), the spot is also not on the opercle, in front of the base of the pectoral fin, but instead a distance behind it, as can be seen from the photo. There are other distinctions, of course (in fact, they are quite different), but as the ocelate "eye" spot is quite distinctive, this difference must be taken into account.
The fish was found in about 14m depth, on a very well-grown-over pinnacle surrounded by sand off Castle Rocks.
Unfortunately this fish couldn't make it into my Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, but the lace klipfish is there, if you need more information on identifying it!
Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, a divers' identification guide, G Zsilavecz, 2005.
Smiths' Sea Fishes, MM Smith and PC Heemstra, 1986.
The systematics of the fishes of the family Clinidae in South Africa. Mary-Louise Penrith. Annals of the South Africa Museum, Volume 55, Part 1, September 1969.
A new clinid fish from South Africa, JLB Smith, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 13, volume iii, page 689, November 1960.
Fishes of the Tsitsikama Coastal National Park, JLB and MM Smith, 1966.