Study on Blennies fishes (Blenniidae Rafinesque 1810) from Makoran coastal waters (Southeast of Iran)

The family blenniidae comprises 58 genera and 406 species according to Eschmeyer and Fong (2018). Members of the family Blenniidae are small, scale-less and very agile fishes, inhabiting inshore, sub-tidal rocky substrata, and rock pools of the inter-tidal zone of tropical and sub-tropical marine waters (Randall, 1995). A few species are also reported from brackish and freshwaters (Hastings and Springer, 2009). Many authors including: Wright et al., (1990); Abou-Seedo, (1992); Springer and Williams, (1994); Randall et al., (1994); Randall, (1995); Regan, (1905); Smith, (1959); Springer, (1971) and Murdy, (1989 have studied the intertidal fishes fauna of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Studies on Blenniidae family by Iranian authors have a little incresed in recent years. Ghanbarifardi and Malek, (2007) Mehraban and Esmaeili (2018), published a report on the permanent intertidal fishes of Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Attaran Fariman etal(2016a, b) study on phylogeny of the some blenniidae species from intertidal and subtidal of Oman sea have been studied by Attaran Fariman et al. (2016a, b).   Phylogeny of 7 blennidae species have been studied by Estekani (2014).The natural habitat, life history and unique characteristics of this family are quite compatible with different habitats and substratum existing along the Makoran coast, hence, it could be expected that quite a diverse number of blenniid species inhabit different niches of this area. Therefore this study was conducted to identify the species of Blenniidae family from intertidal and subtidal of North part of Oman Sea (Makoran coast).