Acanthemblemaria spinosa

Acanthemblemaria spinosa, commonly known as the Spinyhead blenny, is a tiny blenny. Their colour is variable from greenish-brown to reddish with black. Their body has light coloured small and large spots/blotches and the head is usually covered in very tiny spots. They've anthlers on their head but their head is also covered in spikes/cirri. A. spinosa looks very similar to A. maria and most pictures online show the wrong fish. They can be identified by the fact that A. maria has larger but less spines on the head and an orange blotch just behind the head.

These fish are found in empty worm or mollusk tubes and only quickly leave the hole to eat or find a mate. In an aquarium a hole in a rock or empty snail shell will probably be picked, so make sure ample are present before introducing them. In a large aquarium multiple blennies is possible as long as enough territories can be formed, but in a nano tank they can best be kept alone or as a proven pair. They feed mainly on small crustaceans and can best be fed with live and frozen food like copepods, artemia and small gammarus, but usually will learn to feed on high quality flakes and pellets as well!