Blenny(?) ID Required

I found this tiny little guy on the eastern side of Exmouth Gulf (Northwest of Australia) last Saturday and haven't been able to ID him. He was very small (less than 20mm long) and the hole he is in is about 5mm in diameter.

Virginia has identified it as the most gorgeous fish she has ever seen and "Why cant you (me) take photos of such cute fish?"

I told her we would have to move to Exmouth.

Couldn't find it in Kuiter's World Atlas of Marine Fishes.

I may have his email if you wanted to ask him.

I like that ID much better than the only other one I've been offered "Blue Throated Blenny ". You don't have to move here, you could just come for a visit, I know where there's cheap accommodation and diving

Rudie's email would be good. He might be interested in photos I've taken of fish around here that aren't supposed to be here according to his Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia.

Nice photo!!! I've checked all the books on Fish ID i have....none have this one!!!! Write to Rudie Kuiter. He'll definitely be able to help you out.

Hi Ross -- I sent your photos to John Randall. He didn't recognize it & forwarded them to Jeff Williams at the Smithsonian who specializes in blennies.

Got a fast response courtesy of Jeff Williams via John Randall: "It is a Laiphognathus multimaculatus-like fish. The color pattern is slightly different from Seychelles photos I have seen. I suspect this will be another complex of species and the WA form is probably undescribed, but specimens would need to be collected first."

Thanks Leslie, you're the best. Please pass my thanks on to Jeff and John.

Well, you know I usually don't mess with fish but this little guy was just such a cutie!

I was going to say that without a full body shot (and probably a specimen) ID of these blennies is very hard, but Leslie did all the hard work for me! It is amazing how many undescribed species are out there. Tons of blennies/gobies in that category, especially in the Indo-Malay area.