False cleanerfish
Aspidontus taeniatus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- False cleanerfish
- Scientific
- Aspidontus taeniatus
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 12 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 1 to 25 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2009
Description
A slender blenny that is an almost perfect mimic of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, with the same blue body, black stripe and even the same dancing swim. Fish that approach expecting to be cleaned instead have bits of fin, skin or scale bitten off. It can be told from the real cleaner by its mouth, which sits under the snout rather than at the tip. It lives in pairs or small groups in empty worm tubes and holes.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives on the FishBase country checklist (status: present). No Maldives-specific information was found in MRS (1997) or the other sources reviewed, and no Dhivehi name is recorded.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Aspidontus-taeniatus.html
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:NiseKGP.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in MRS 1997 (available chapters), FishBase (country: Maldives) or Dhivehi Wikipedia.