mimic blenny

Open encyclopedia reference

The false cleanerfish (Aspidontus taeniatus) is a species of combtooth blenny, a mimic that copies both the dance and appearance of Labroides dimidiatus (the bluestreak cleaner wrasse), a similarly colored species of cleaner wrasse. It likely mimics that species to avoid predation, as well as to occasionally bite the fins of its victims rather than consume parasites. Most veiled attacks occur on juvenile fish, as adults that have been attacked in the past may avoid or even attack A. taeniatus.

It is indigenous to coral reef habitats in the Indo-Pacific.

Wikipedia contributors, False cleanerfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:57:34.248500+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Aspidontus taeniatus Quoy & Gaimard, 1834

Name authority

Quoy & Gaimard, 1834

Common name

mimic blenny

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Blenniiformes

Family

Blenniidae

Genus

Aspidontus

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderBlenniiformes
11. familyBlenniidae Rafinesque, 1810
12. subfamilyBlenniinae Rafinesque, 1810
13. genusAspidontus Cuvier, 1834
14. speciesAspidontus taeniatus Quoy & Gaimard, 1834

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Aspidontus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 307 records assigned to Blenniidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Quoy, J. R. C., & Gaimard, J. P. (1834). Poissons. In: Voyage de Découvertes de “l’Astrolabe,” Exécuté Par Ordre Du Roi, Pendant Les Années 1826-29, Sous Le Commandement de M. J. Dumont d’Urville. Paris. Zoologie, Vol. 3 (Pt 2): 645–720, pls 1–4, 7, 10–12, 14–15, 19–20 [Plates in Atlas Zoologie (v. 1). pl. 5 mentioned in the text but not included in the Atlas]. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6874Z. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.