the.com/shanny
The tide-pool fish that refuses to drown on land, just to spite you.
means A small, hardy blenny-like fish found in rock pools around the British Isles, able to survive out of water for surprisingly long stretches by gulping air and hiding under damp seaweed.
from 'Shanny' is a dialect name, chiefly from Cornwall and other British coastal regions, for the common blenny (Lipophrys pholis). Its deeper roots are genuinely uncertain — it may be linked to Irish or Cornish dialect words, possibly connected to 'shan,' meaning old or wily in some Gaelic-influenced speech, but no origin is firmly established. What's certain is that it entered English as local fisherfolk's slang for the tenacious little rockpool fish long before naturalists gave it a Latin name.
- real name
- common blenny, shanny is the nickname
- survival trick
- breathes air, hides under wet rocks at low tide
- temperament
- bites fingers far harder than its size suggests
- habitat
- found clinging to rockpools across the UK coast