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Kelp Blennies
Clinidae
Clinidae is a family of marine fish in the order Blenniiformes within the series Ovalentaria, part of the Percomorpha . Temperate blennies, the family ranges from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. The family contains about 86 species in 20 genera, the 60-cm-long giant kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus) being the largest; most are far smaller.
With small cycloid scales, clinoid blennies may have a deep or slender build; some members of the family bear the name "snake blenny" and "eel blenny" for this reason. Dorsal spines outnumber soft rays; two spines are in the anal fin. Like many other blennies, clinids possess whisker-like structures on their heads called cirri.
26 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 92 known species

Clinus
genusClinus

Northeastern Pacific Kelpfishes
genusGibbonsia

Heteroclinus
genusHeteroclinus

Heterostichus
genusHeterostichus

Cristiceps
genusCristiceps

Pavoclinus
genusPavoclinus

Clines
genusClinitrachus

Ericentrus
genusEricentrus

Ophiclinus
genusOphiclinus

Myxodes
genusMyxodes

Muraenoclinus
genusMuraenoclinus

Blennophis
genusBlennophis

Blennioclinus
genusBlennioclinus

Cirrhibarbis
genusCirrhibarbis

Ribeiroclinus
genusRibeiroclinus

Sticharium
genusSticharium

Cancelloxus
genusCancelloxus

Xenopoclinus
genusXenopoclinus

Springeratus
genusSpringeratus

Peronedys
genusPeronedys

Fucomimus
genusFucomimus

Ophiclinops
genusOphiclinops

Cologrammus
genusCologrammus
Climacoporus
genusClimacoporus
Clinoporus
genusClinoporus
Smithichthys
genusSmithichthys
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Clinidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 85698.