Blennies: Blennioidei

Blennies usually sit on rocks or coral rubble and use their pelvic fins, the pair that corresponds to the rear legs of four-footed animals, to lift their head off the bottom. Some blennies sit just above the waterline and when threatened leap from the rock and skip across the surface of the water to the next rock.

Some male blennies guard a small territory, often an empty shell or a rock crevice. The female enters the male's territory; lays eggs that stick to the shell or rock as they are fertilized (FUR-teh-lyzed), or joined with the male's sperm, and then leaves. The male then guards the eggs and fans water over them until they hatch. Newly hatched young swim toward the surface and feed on plankton, or microscopic plants and animals drifting in water, before returning to the bottom.