Gibbonsia elegans
Spotted Kelpfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Clinidae (Kelp Blennies)
Gibbonsia
Gibbonsia elegans (Spotted Kelpfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated.
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Piedras Blancas Point in central California, USA to southern Baja California, Mexico, including Guadalupe Island.
Habitat Associations
Marine. demersal.
Biology
Found from subtidal rocky areas to 56 m depth, usually in seaweed. Female lays white eggs in seaweed, male guards egg mass (Ref. 2850).
Max length: 16.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; guarders (nesters); parental care: paternal. Oviparous (Ref. 101760). Eggs are attached in algal nest and brooded by male parent (Ref. 101760).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-01-26. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Fitch, J.E. and R.J. Lavenberg (1975) Tidepool and nearshore fishes of California. California Natural History Guides:38. University of California Press, Berkelley and Los Angeles, California. 156 p.
Love, M.S., C.W. Mecklenburg, T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson (2005) Resource inventory of marine and estuarine fishes of the West Coast and Alaska: A checklist of North Pacific and Arctic Ocean species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104.
Watson, W. (1996) Clinidae: Clinid kelpfishes. p. 1164-1169. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505p.
Comments On Gibbonsia elegans