Tube Blennies — Family Chaenopsidae — Onespot Fringehead
Onespot fringehead from the Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara
Onespot fringehead from the Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara
Species: Neoclinus uninotatus (Hubbs, 1953); from the Greek words neos (young) and clin (recline), and (uninotatus) meaning one mark for the single spot on its dorsal fin.
Alternate Names: Fringehead or onespot. Called tubícola mancha singular or blenia in Mexico.
Onespot fringehead from the Monterey Wharf #2
Identification: Typical elongated, slender blenny-shape, but with a large blunt head, a rounded snout, and a very, very large mouth that extends past their eyes. Their long dorsal fin extends from the rear of the head almost to the rounded caudal fin (tail). Their coloring is usually brown with black specks tinged with red and seven fairly broad dark brown bars on their sides. Unlike the sarcastic fringehead that has two eyespots, onespots only have (surprise, surprise!) one spot (ocellus) that is located between the 1st and 2nd spines in the dorsal fin. The ocellus is usually black-blue bordered by yellow. Their name comes from the large, fringe-like appendages called cirri over their eyes. Their mouths have numerous conical shaped teeth.
Onespot fringehead from the Goleta Pier
Size: To 9.8 inches. Most caught from piers are 5-7 inches long.
Range: Isla San Martin, northern Baja California, to Bodega Bay, northern California. Common from southern California to Monterey Bay, central California.
Onespot fringehead from the Avila Pier
Habitat: Onespot fringehead (which one source said looks a lot like google-eyed actor Marty Feldman) are a bottom dwelling species that inhabit fairly barren bottoms of bays and shallow coastline waters (sand or hard mud, 10-90 feet in depth). There they take up residence in whatever homeless shelter they can find—empty shells, bottles, cans, tires, pipe, shoes, etc. Recorded to a depth of 180 feet. CA F&G Fish Bulletin 160 reported that no “homeless” fringehead were found in the vicinity of piers in San Diego Bay. Oftentimes they sit in their homes with just their heads protruding from the opening. Like their cousins, the sarcastic fringehead, they are very territorial, fearless and extremely aggressive. They will attack any intruder approaching their home (even including divers). They will charge out in aggressive displays, flaring their mouths and fins to intimidate the intruder. As for food, they are ambush predators primarily feeding on bottom dwelling crustaceans like small shrimp and crabs. They have a lifespan of about seven years.
Onespot fringehead from the Avila Pier
Piers: Rarely common, but occasionally seen at piers. Best bets: Embarcadero Marina Park Pier, Shelter Island Pier, Oceanside Harbor Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier, Gaviota Pier, Port San Luis, Morro Bay North T-Pier, Morro Bay South T-Pier, Fort Point Pier, Elephant Rock Pier, Sausalito Pier, and Fort Baker Pier.
Shoreline: Occasionally taken by shore anglers, especially in San Francisco Bay.
Boats: A small inshore species rarely take from boats.
Onespot fringehead from the North T-Pier in Morro Bay
Bait and Tackle: Taken incidentally when using small hooks and fishing on the bottom.
Onespot fringehead from the North T-Pier in Morro Bay
Onespot fringehead from Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara
Comments: 2013 saw a plethora of onespots showing up along the coast, especially between Santa Barbara and Morrow Bay. One mini-trip in July saw me visit four piers in three days and catch eight onespot fringehead—two at Stearns Wharf (Santa Barbara), one at Goleta Pier, two at Gaviota Pier and three at Port San Luis. A few weeks later saw me catch one at the Avila Pier, two at the Morro Bay North T-Pier and one at the Morro Bay South T-Pier.
Another “run” of sorts took place in 1978 when piers along the Marin shoreline—Elephant Rock, Sausalito, and Fort Baker all produced onespot fringhead among the catch. Since then there have been sporadic catches.
Unfortunately, they can be a pain to remove from the hook. Typically as soon as you get your finger near their mouth they will latch on to it and hold on in a death grip. The tiny teeth really don’t hurt but it’s hard to get them to open their mouth enough to allow removal of the hook. They just don’t seem to understand that you’re trying to help them out.
For some reason there is/was an “Alternative/ Emo/Punk” band from Baltimore called the Onespot Fringehead (even though there are no onespot fringehead fish in Baltimore unless they are in the National Aquarium). Apparently their records were distributed by Vermin Scum Records; isn’t that neat?