''Enneapterygius clea'', or Clea's triplefin, is a species of

threefin blenny Threefin or triplefin blennies are blenniiforms, small percomorph marine fish of the family Tripterygiidae. Found in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the family contains about 150 species in 30 genera. T ...

in the genus ''

Enneapterygius ''Enneapterygius'' is a genus of fish in the family Tripterygiidae found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently 63 recognized species in this genus: * '' Enneapterygius abeli'' ( Klausewitz, 1960) (Yellow triplefin) * '' ...

'', described by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Ronald Fricke in 1997. It is endemic to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Etymology

''Enneapterygius clea'' was described by Ronald Fricke in 1997, from a male

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

(AMS I.22600-056) and 34

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

specimens. He gave the blenny its species epithet, "''clea''", and its common name in honour of his daughter Clea, then seven years old.

Description

Fricke described ''Enneapterygius clea'' as a medium-sized member of the '' Enneapterygius hemimelas'' species group, and considered it to be most closely related to the blacktail triplefin ('' Enneapterygius bahasa'') and the redtail triplefin ('' Enneapterygius rubicauda''), both from the western Pacific Ocean. Clea's triplefins have yellow-orange bodies with red streaks, orange vertical fins and blue-gray eyes. Males have black heads and tails, while the females do not share this feature. Male Clea's triplefins can reach a maximum length of 3.2 centimetres.

Distribution

The Clea's triplefin is a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

blenny, endemic to

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s around

, in the western central

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. It swims at a depth range of 4–24 metres.

References

External links

''Enneapterygius clea''
at www.fishwise.co.za
''Enneapterygius clea''
at

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

''Enneapterygius clea''
at

Encyclopedia of Life The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It aggregates content to form "pages" for every known species. Content is compiled from existing trusted ...

''Enneapterygius clea''
at

ITIS The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2945880

clea Clea is a female given name. Clea may refer to: People with the given name * Clea DuVall (born 1977), actress * Clea Hoyte (born 1981), West Indies cricketer * Clea Koff (born 1972), British-born American forensic anthropologist and author * ...

Marine fish of Eastern Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Fish described in 1997