Hey everyone!
I've been doing research on the Blenny fish! The scientific name is "Bleniidae" but I like saying "Blenny" better!. Found in waters all over the world, Blennys are versatile creatures. They can live in fresh or salt water, shallow or deep water, and an be herbivores or carnivores (and sometimes cannibals!). They are usually between 10 and 15 cm in length, and are long and thin. However in some cases they have found to grow up to 2 meters! Their coloring varies. They can be white, blue, purple, orange, or any combination of them! The rely on being abe to blend in with the environment, so while that cannot change colors like a chameleon, their coloring is adapted to where their habitat is. They like to live in rocks, corals and reefs, hiding in small holes and jumping out to catch their prey. If they are herbivores then they eat algae off of their surroundings, which keeps the algae from taking over the entire area.
Geological Impacts:
While these fish are tiny (really, really tiny) they do still have a backbone. When they die this backbone will become part of the sediment where it lived. In the case of the shallow tide pools, every little bit counts.
Chemical Impacts:
I could not find any information on whether or not the blenny affects the chemical processes in the waters around hi, but they do have the ability to live in both fresh and salt water, which is uncommon in most fishes. In some species they are even able to survive hopping around on shore for a few minutes.
Physical Impacts:
Because of its versatility, the blenny is able to live in many water sources, including the rough tide pool. Because a tide pool is obviously affected by the tide, the organisms that live there must be able to adapt to the rapidly changing depth of the waters as well as changing oxygen levels. Because of this it determines what the blenny is able to eat, because it can only eat what i also able to live there (or what gets washed in).
Resources:
"blenny." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 06 May. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/69282/blenny>.
