Diademichthys lineatus (Long-snout clingfish)
Its body is elongated with a stretched and spatulate snout. The latter is a criteria for recognizing the sex of the fish, females have a longer and finer snout than males.
The body background colour varies from dark brown to red-brown, three yellowish longitudinal lines runs along the body, one on the top and the two others on the median axis of the sides of the fish. The caudal fin is marked in its centre by a yellow spot, the snout can also have some yellow.
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13-15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 12 – 14.
Has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red List.
Western Indian Ocean: Oman and Mauritius. Western Pacific: Indonesia to Fiji and Tonga, north to southern Japan, south to northern Australia.
It is found in reef environments often associated with long-spined sea urchins particularly of the genus Diadema.
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Long-snout clingfish is a small size fish, it grows up to 5 centimetres.
Long-snout clingfish feeds mainly on burrowing bivalves in corals, tube feet of their host and eggs of a commensal shrimp.The sexual dimorphism induce a difference between male and female diet, so the adult female, having a longer snout, eats more often small bivalves and shrimp’s eggs than the adult male, which eat more frequently tube feet.
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