Scartella cristata - Amazon S3

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and Moore (1998) indicate that Hypleurochilus geminatus is the most frequently encountered blenny on
the lower Texas coast and imply that Scartella cristata is relatively scarce on the middle and upper coast.
The freckled blenny, Hypsoblennius ionthas (Jordan and Gilbert), also is a typical inhabitant of jetties and
groins but occurs more frequently on estuarine oyster reefs (Hubbs 1939, Clarke 1979, Smith-Vaniz 1980,
Hoese and Moore 1998).
The Family Labrisomidae is another group of blennies occurring on Texas jetties (Hoese 1958,
Springer 1958, Hoese and Moore 1998). While there are 102 known labrisomid species in 16 genera
(Nelson 1994), not much is known about their ecology, life history, or population dynamics (Springer
1958, Hoese and Moore 1998). The hairy blenny, Labrisomus nuchipinnis (Quoy and Gaimard), is the
only species regularly occurring on the Texas coast (Hoese 1958, Hoese and Moore 1998). Little is
known about L. nuchipinnis except that it ranges throughout the tropical and subtropical Atlantic (Springer
1958, Hoese and Moore 1998) but avoids sandy beaches, river deltas, and mangroves (Springer 1958).
Blennies have been the focus of diverse research efforts ranging from behavior to aquatic
toxicology. However, existing information on population dynamics of blennies in the northwestern Gulf
of Mexico is limited, particularly when compared to that of counterparts in the Caribbean, Mediterranean,
and northeast Atlantic Ocean. These studies tend to focus on a single species and not multi-species
systems where differences in biology of constituent species can be determining factors in assemblage
structure. The Texas coast encompasses a wide range of environmental and climatic regimes (Britton and
Morton 1989) that have the potential of influencing growth. Growth is an important aspect in structuring
species assemblages (Jones 1991); however, there is no information available on the growth rates of Gulf
of Mexico blennies. Therefore an attempt to characterize these assemblages would be incomplete without
recognizing the importance of an age and growth component.
Blennies and the “New” Texas Coast
The Texas coast has historically been an unbroken 650 km stretch of sandy beaches. Rocky shore
habitats are practically absent in nearshore waters of the northwest Gulf, with the nearest natural rocky
shores occurring at Punta Jerez in Tamaulipas, Mexico (Britton and Morton 1989). There is significantly
more hard-bottom habitat in offshore waters of the northwest Gulf but these areas are relatively small, low