Piano blenny (Plagiotremus tapeinosoma)
Photos Guido Zsilavecz
Piano blennies, so named because of the pattern along the side, are fang blennies. They have comparatively huge canine teeth (the fangs), with which it nips fish, taking off scales and flesh. To achieve this it hides between similar, but harmless fishes (like cleaner wrasses), allowing it to get closer to its potential victims. Unlike most blennies it is free-swimming, that is, it does not stay close to the bottom. This one was seen at A-Frame, and I have seen others at Castle Rocks. It is known to range from the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea down to False Bay, but it is very rare in our waters. Swimming above the reefs, with erratic movements, it is a very hard to photograph fish!
Smiths' Sea Fishes, MM Smith and PC Heemstra, 1986.
Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa. PC Heemstra & E Heemstra, 2004.
Reef fishes and Corals, D King, 1996.