''Chelon tricuspidens'', the striped mullet, is a species of
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...
from the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Mugilidae
The mullets or grey mullets are a family (Mugilidae) of ray-finned fish found worldwide in coastal temperate and tropical waters, and some species in fresh water. Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since R ...
. It is found in southern Africa where its known range comprises
Mossel Bay
Mossel Bay () is a harbour town of about 170,000 people on the Garden Route of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the country's seat of parliament, Ca ...
and the
Kosi Estuary in South Africa. Its habitatis muddy areas in estuaries.
This species and the
Diassanga mullet (''Chelon bandialensis'') are closely related and these two taxa seem to have separated when the
Benguela Current
The Benguela Current is the broad, northward flowing ocean current that forms the eastern portion of the South Atlantic Ocean gyre. The current extends from roughly Cape Point in the south, to the position of the Angola-Benguela Front in the no ...
, as it exists today, was formed about 3-12 million years ago.
References
tricuspidens
Fish described in 1935
{{Mugilidae-stub