Horned blenny on the wreck of the "Transvaal"
Photo by Peter Gordon
Three different ones, showing colour variability.
A juvenile 2 cm long found at Castle Rocks.
Bottom four photos by Guido Zsilavecz
The horned blenny is one of the two more commonly seen gobies in Cape Town (the other being the two-eyed blenny Chalaroderma ocellata.) It can be found on both sides of the Peninsula, in relatively shallow water (two meters, in the bay at Windmill) to deep wrecks like the Smitswinkel bay ones, as well as reefs further out, down to depths of over 30m. They tend to be secretive, and are most often found within cracks within caves, under overhangs and similar, although on a number of occasions they have been spotted lying on the deck of a wreck, on sponges, etc. Most of the time they also behave in a skittish way, but again, some exceptions have been seen and photographed.
This blenny is quite large, and reaches lengths of about 15 cm, and can be quite chubby as well. Colouration is variable, as the photos show. The tentacles above the eyes are generally orange in colour. The tentacles of the male have a slightly longer central stalk than that of the females, but the difference is not that obvious to see, compared to the two-eyed blenny, where the difference is remarkable.
For more details on this and other blennies, see see "Coastal Fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay", available directly from SURG as well as better dive and book stores in Cape Town
Coastal Fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, A Diver' Identification Guide, G. Zsilavecz, 2005