Steve Coffee-Smith sent in a photo of an unusual fish. Steve wrote, “Our group of family and friends went to Bowling Ball Beach. We found this fish, maybe three inches long, on the newly exposed rocks in the lowering tide. We tried to scoop him up in order to return him to deeper water, but he was stuck to the rock.”

Carol Preston of NOAA knew the ID of the fish. Carol wrote, “It is a Clingfish, Gobiesox maeandricus. They use their ‘suction cup,’ which is their pelvic fins fused together, to cling to the undersides of rocks in the tidepools. They mainly eat small crustaceans and molluscs.”

Thanks to Carol for the ID, and thanks to Steve for allowing me to share his photo with you here.