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As their name would suggest, sand stargazers spend most of their time buried in sandy substrates waiting for unsuspecting prey; only the eyes, nose and mouth are usually visible. Their mode of respiration is also unique among the blennioids, using a branchiostegal rather than opercular pump; this is
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These blennies are named well: sand stargazers have protruding eyes on the top of their heads, fixed in an upward gaze, and may be on stalks. Their large mouths are also upturned. The dorsal fin is long and may or may not be continuous, with seven to 23 spines; the pelvic fins are situated below the
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thought to be an adaptation to their largely sedentary, obscured lives. Sand stargazers generally stay within shallow (< 10 m) intertidal zones in areas protected from surges. Small
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283:(the gill cover), this fringe is divided into finger-like structures. The body is greatly elongated, and coloration is generally drab.
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throat and possess one spine. The anal fin is equally long and flowing. The mouth is fringed, and like the upper edge of the
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275:) is the largest at 15 cm in length; all other species are under 10 cm.
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meaning "finger" (a reference to the divided mouth and operculum fringes) and
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and fish make up the bulk of the sand stargazer's diet.
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294:The family name Dactyloscopidae derives from the
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255:. Found in temperate to tropical waters of
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40:Dactyloscopus tridigitatus
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48:Scientific classification
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23:
340:"Family Dactyloscopidae"
338:; Pauly, Daniel (eds.).
263:; some may also inhabit
549:Paleobiology Database
348:. April 2013 version.
316:List of fish families
306:meaning "to watch".
269:giant sand stargazer
273:Dactylagnus mundus
267:environments. The
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536:Open Tree of Life
362:Taxon identifiers
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24:Sand stargazers
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16:Family of fishes
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414:Dactyloscopidae
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370:Dactyloscopidae
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253:Dactyloscopidae
237:Sand stargazers
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115:Dactyloscopidae
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336:Froese, Rainer
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251:of the family
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203:Platygillellus
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595:Blenniiformes
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484:iNaturalist
394:Wikispecies
215:Sindoscopus
182:Leurochilus
166:Heteristius
136:Dactylagnus
584:Categories
322:References
241:blennioids
198:Gill, 1861
194:Myxodagnus
149:Gill, 1859
140:Gill, 1863
120:T. N. Gill
281:operculum
245:perciform
154:Gillellus
71:Kingdom:
65:Eukaryota
421:BioLib:
385:Q2166073
379:Wikidata
345:FishBase
310:See also
300:daktylos
265:brackish
224:Storrsia
111:Family:
85:Chordata
81:Phylum:
75:Animalia
61:Domain:
304:skopein
247:marine
159:Gilbert
128:Genera
101:Order:
91:Class:
567:151416
554:266202
541:628670
515:171036
502:109998
298:words
210:, 1974
208:Dawson
189:, 1968
187:Böhlke
177:, 1946
173:&
161:, 1890
122:, 1859
562:WoRMS
528:57772
497:IRMNG
489:48569
450:623WS
437:99837
424:43403
296:Greek
257:North
171:Myers
523:NCBI
510:ITIS
476:8524
471:GBIF
463:5338
432:BOLD
259:and
249:fish
239:are
175:Wade
458:EoL
445:CoL
409:ADW
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271:(
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