🐠 Reef Sand Blenny (Ekemblemaria myersi)
A Tan-Brown Body With Dark Bars and a Gill-Cover Eye-Spot • A Real Eastern Pacific Rarity • A True Shell and Tube-Dwelling Species
 
📋 The Reef Sand Blenny, also widely known as the Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny or Tube Blenny, has a charming appearance, a tan-to-dark-brown body marked with 10-12 darker bars, branched cirri above the eyes, and a large brown, light-ringed spot on the gill cover.
Unlike most blennies in our range, this species is native to the Eastern Pacific, from the Gulf of California down to Ecuador and Colombia, a real geographic outlier and an uncommon find in a trade largely centred on Indo-Pacific species. It's technically a "tube blenny" in the Chaenopsidae family rather than a true blenny, and in the wild it inhabits empty mollusc shells, worm tubes, and barnacle cases at the reef-sand interface, usually seen with just its head poking out. Every Reef Sand Blenny we ship is feeding well.
This is an entertaining, active fish that darts quickly from its shelter to snatch passing food before retreating. It's fully reef safe and generally peaceful, though it can become territorial toward other fish of a similar shape. Given its very small size, careful tankmate selection matters; avoid larger, more boisterous species that could out-compete it for food. It reaches up to 7cm, so a 45L tank suits it well.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Tan-Brown Body With Bars and Eye-Spot: A distinctive small blenny
🌎 An Eastern Pacific Rarity: A real geographic outlier in our stock
🐚 Shell-Dwelling Behaviour: Lives head-out in empty mollusc shells and tubes
🌿 Fully Reef Safe: Won't harm corals or invertebrates
🧠 Beginner Friendly: Hardy and entertaining once settled in