7 replies to this topic

[Alex_Mustard]

A bit of a reverse question this. But does anyone have a picture of this blenny (Starksia y-lineata) from the Cayman Islands?
I think I know where a colony lives but would like to see an image so I know what to look for.
Alex

[james]

How about posting a link to Fishbase.org or checking for a photo there? That might be the ticket.

Cheers
James

[Alex_Mustard]

I should have mentionned that fishbase don't have a photo.

[jimbo1946]

This is a tough one. I dive the Caymans (Little Cayman and Cayman Brac) every year, but I don't know if I've ever seen one. Humann's Reef Fish ID book for the Caribbean doesn't list the starksia y-lineata blenny.

My curiosity is aroused!

[jimbo1946]

My curiosity aroused, I found a little information on the web, but no photographs.

1. This site has a report that has a figure, but it's not clear if the figure is a photograph or drawing of the fish.

www.acnatsci.org/library/scipubs/nnichthylolgy.html

STARKSIA Y-LINEATA, A NEW CLINID FISH FROM GRAND CAYMAN ISAND, BRITISH WEST INDIES
Carter R. Gilbert
Includes discussion of distinction from cognate species Starksia fasciata and S. sluiteri, neither of which is recorded from Grand Cayman Island.
1965. 6 pp. 1 fig. $3.00
Order: Notulae Naturae no. 379


2. I found this brief description at one site: dark above, pale below; upper side has narrow, pale, Y-shaped vertical lines


3. I found this information at one site. It does mention a location where specimens were found.

Clinidae Starksia y-lineata Gilbert, 1965: 2.
PARATYPES: TU 36401, 2 specimens from Caribbean Sea, Grand Cayman Island, "Ironshore" formation in front of Seaview Lodge, S side of Georgetown, depth 2-12 ft., collected by C. R. Gilbert and J. C. Tyler.

[Alex_Mustard]

Thanks Jim, will chase it up and report back.

[Alex_Mustard]

C.R. Gilbert has several late 1960s publications in our library here, but unfortunately not that one.
Jim, do you have the most recent Reef Fish ID?

[jimbo1946]

Jim, do you have the most recent Reef Fish ID?

We have the 2nd edition, published in the mid-1990s. I just checked, and there is a third edition published in February 2002. I looked at the index on amazon.com, and it only lists the Starksia hassi and Starksia nanodes.

Starksia y-lineata is a tough one. I imagine that Humann would include it in a future edition if he had a photo. But without a photo to start with, how do you know if you're looking at one???