Some species, often called rock hoppers, hang out in intertidal zones, in tidal pools where temperatures and water levels fluctuate rapidly. Others are completely adapted to life on the sand, in the splash zones where they get wet only periodically to help them breathe.

"The blennies are a very exciting group to study, from both an ecological and evolutionary standpoint," Terry Ord, study co-author and evolutionary ecologist, told UPI in an email.