Molly Miller

Molly Miller
Scartella cristata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Blennioidei
Family: Blenniidae
Genus: Scartella
Species: S. cristata
Binomial name
Scartella cristata
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Molly Miller, Scartella cristata is a species of fish of the Blenniidae family (Combtooth blennies) in the order perciformes. It can be found in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Northwest Pacific. Its color is a mottled tan, white, and black covering the body and fins. The head of this fish is covered with short hair-like appendages and has two very large eyes.

Contents

Size

Males can reach up to 12 cm (4.7 inches) in length.

Reproduction

Oviparous; eggs are demersal and adhesive.

Habitat

The Molly Miller is a marine tropical fish which lives in rocks or coral reefs that are 0–10 meters below the surface. Coral reefs are perfect places for the fish to hunt and feed on the small crustaceans and algae that make up its omnivorous diet, and give them shelter and places to hide as well.

Geographic Distribution

It lives in the western Atlantic from Bermuda, Florida, and northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil; and in the eastern Atlantic from Mauritania and the Canary Islands to Namibia. The fish can be found in the southern Mediterranean, including Milan, Sicily, and the Peloponnese (Greece). It also lives in Japan and Taiwan.

Bibliography

  • Balma, G. A. C. & G. B. Delmastro, 1984. Scartella cristata (Linnaeus, 1758), blennide nuovo per la fauna del Mar Ligure (Osteichthyes, Blenniidae). Doriana 6:1-5.
  • Bath, H., 1990: Über eine neue Art der Gattung Scartella von den Kapverdischen Inseln (Pisces: Blenniidae). Mitteilungen Pollichia v. 77: 395-407.
  • Brum, M. J. I., C. Oliveira, M. M. Correa & P. M. Galetti, 1994. Estudos citogenéticos em Scartella cristata (Pisces, Perciformes, Blenniidae) do litoral do estado do Rio de Janeiro. p. 24. A. V. Simp. Citogenet. Evol. e Aplic. de Peixes Neotropicais, Botucatu - SP.
  • Eschmeyer, William N.: Genera of Recent Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco, California. iii + 697. ISBN 0-940228-23-8. 1990.
  • Eschmeyer, William N., ed. 1998. Catalog of Fishes. Special Publication of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information, núm. 1, vol. 1-3. California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco, California. ISBN 0-940228-47-5.
  • Hardy, J. D. Jr., 2003. Coral reef fish species. NOAA\National Oceanographic Data Center. NODC Coral Reef Data and Information Management System. Estats Units. 537 p.
  • Helfman, G., B. Collette & D. Facey: The diversity of fishes. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts, 1997.
  • Moyle, P. i J. Cech.: Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology, 4a. edició, Upper Saddle River, Nova Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2000.
  • Nelson, J.S., E.J. Crossman, H. Espinosa-Pérez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, R.N. Lea i J.D. Williams, 2004. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 29, Bethesda, Maryland.
  • Nelson, Joseph S.: Fishes of the World, John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-25031-7. 2006.
  • Nieder, J., 1988. Zum Vorkommen von Scartella cristata (L.) und Parablennius pilicornis (Cuv.) (Teleostei, Blenniidae) an der nordspanischen Mittelmeerküste. Zool. Anz. 220(3/4):144-150.
  • Nieder, J., 1996. Agonistic behavioural patterns in the blenniid fish Scartella cristata (Teleostei, Blenniidae) and the role of its unusual erectile nuchal crest. Z. Fischkd. 3(2):235-241.
  • Nieder, J., 1997. Seasonal variation in feeding patterns and food niche overlap in the Mediterranean blennies Scartella cristata, Parablennius pilicornis and Lipophrys trigloides (Pisces: Blenniidae). Mar. Ecol. 18(3):227-237.
  • Nieder, J., G. La Mesa & M. Vacchi, 2000. Blennidae along the Italian coasts of the Ligurian and the Tyrrhenian Sea: community structure and new records of Scartella cristata for northern Italy. Cybium 24(4):359-369.
  • Osório, B., 1898. Da distribuição geográfica dos peixes e crustáceos colhidos nas possessões portuguesas da África Occidental e existentes no Museu Nacional de Lisbon. J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat. 5(19):185-207.
  • Rangel, C. A. & L. F. Mendes, 2009: Review of blenniid fishes from Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil, with description of a new species of Scartella (Teleostei: Blenniidae). Zootaxa Núm. 2006: 51-61.
  • Springer, V. G., 1986. Blenniidae. p. 742-755. A. M. M. Smith & P. C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
  • Springer, V.: Blennies. Planes 214-217 a W. N. Eschmeyer, J. R. Paxton, editors. Encyclopedia of Fishes – 2nd edition, San Diego, California: Academic Press. 1994.
  • Vitturi, R., P. Carbone, E. Catalano & M. Macaluso, 1986. Karyotypes of five species of Blennioidea (Pisces, Perciformes) Caryologia 39(3-4):273-279.
  • Wheeler, A.: The World Encyclopedia of Fishes, 2nd edition, London: Macdonald. 1985.