''Lipogramma trilineata'', the three-lined basslet, 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 ...

Grammatidae Grammatidae is a small Family (biology), family of ray-finned fishes which were formerly placed in the order Perciformes or as indeterminate Percomorpha, percomorphs, but are now considered Blenniiformes, blenniiforms. They are commonly known as ...

. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean from the waters off southeastern

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

south through the Bahamas into the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

as well as the coasts of Central and South America from

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 administrative divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into municipalities of ...

, Mexico to Nicaragua, and the seas off Cartagena and those off Venezuela at

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

and

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

. It occurs underneath rocky and coral ledges as well as occurring in deep reefs and on the outer wall at depths ranging from . Its range has been invaded by

lionfish ''Pterois'' is a genus of venomous fish, venomous marine fish, commonly known as the lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. It is characterized by conspicuous aposematism, warning coloration with red or black bands and ostentatious dorsal fins tip ...

, an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

in the western Atlantic, which prey on a variety of fish species smaller than which means that both adults and juveniles ''L. trineata'' are likely prey of lionfish. It has been recorded that in the Bahamas, there has been a near two-thirds decline in the biomass of fish which lionfish prey on over a period of two years. Other species of basslet have been confirmed as prey for lionfishes. ''Lipogramma trileaneata'' has an elongated, compressed body with a large eye and short snout, the mouth sits at the front of the head, and it has teeth on its jaws,

vomer The vomer (; ) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms ...

and

palatine bone In anatomy, the palatine bones (; derived from the Latin ''palatum'') are two irregular bones of the facial skeleton in many animal species, located above the uvula in the throat. Together with the maxilla, they comprise the hard palate. Stru ...

. The upper part of the head the back and the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

are yellow to reddish orange while the rest of the bos is bluish grey., the yellow colouration can cover the whole body. There are three black-edged blue lines, one along the centre of the snout, through the forehead and the nape and one on each side from the eye to beneath the front of the dorsal fin. There is a blue line along the margin of the dorsal fin and the other fins are a translucent blue.

References

Taxa named by John Ernest Randall Fish described in 1963 Grammatidae {{Blenniiformes-stub