Blabe

{{short description|Small, extinct prehistoric bony fish probably in the family Serranidae}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|45|41|Middle Eocene}}

| image = Blabe_crawleyi.jpg

| image_caption = Artist's reconstruction

| taxon = Blabe crawleyi

| authority = White, 1936

| parent_authority = White, 1936

}}

Blabe is an extinct genus of small, prehistoric ray-finned fish probably belonging to the family Serranidae that lived during the middle division of the Eocene epoch of Egypt.{{cite journal|last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=364 |page=560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |access-date=2009-02-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220223520/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archive-date=2009-02-20 }} It has a single known species, B. crawleyi, known from the Upper Lutetian Mokattam Formation limestone of the ancient Tura quarry.{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Errol Ivor |date=1936 |title=V.— On certain Eocene percoid fishes |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933608655173 |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |language=en |volume=18 |issue=103 |pages=43–54 |doi=10.1080/00222933608655173 |issn=0374-5481|url-access=subscription }}

The generic name translates as "nuisance," referring to how the lack of scales on the type specimen frustrated its describer's attempts to understand the fish's exact systemic position.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QJVUAAAAMAAJ&q=blabe+nuisance "Geology of Egypt" Government Press, 1965] The specific name commemorates one Cecil Crawley, who discovered the first specimen.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QygkAQAAIAAJ&q=blabe+crawleyi "Annals & magazine of natural history" Taylor and Francis, 1936]