Lawnmower blenny

Background

Salarias fasciatus is typically olive to brown with dark bars and numerous round or elongated white spots of different sizes. It has many pale spots, dark streaks running anteriorly, and several dark bands. The dorsal fin lacks a notch, and the dorsal and anal fins are attached to the base of the caudal fin by a skin membrane. Adult males have elongated anterior rays on the anal fin.

Dark longitudinal lines often appear on the front part of the body, while small bright blue spots with dark outlines mark the rear part. This species lives in reefs at depths of 0–8 m from East Africa and the Red Sea to Samoa and the Islands of Micronesia, most often on shallow reef flats that have heavy algae cover. It camouflages itself with its surroundings, even changing color to hide from predators. Despite its common name 'lawnmower blenny,' the fish is principally a detritivore, with plant material making up only about 15% of its diet.

Georges Cuvier described it as Salarias quadripennis in 1816 and named it as the type species of the genus Salarias, but that name was shown to be a junior synonym of Bloch's Blennius fasciatus.