Lobotidae is a

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 ...

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 ...

es that includes the tripletails, which are

circumtropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' ...

marine fishes, and tiger perches, which are Asian freshwater fishes. The family is placed in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Spariformes Spariformes is an order of ray-finned fishes consisting of six families within the series Percomorpha. Taxonomy Spariformes was first used as a taxonomic term in 1860 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker. Trad ...

in the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' but this classification and the taxa included within the family is not agreed on by all workers.

Taxonomy

Lobotidae was first proposed as a family in 1861 by the American biologist

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the Lobotidae within the order Spariformes and provisionally includes the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Datnioides'' in the family. Other workers have included a third genus, '' Hapalogenys'' in the Lobotidae. However, yet more workers place these three taxa in

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

families within the order Lobotiformes in the series

Eupercaria Percomorpha () is an extremely large and diverse clade of ray-finned fish. With more than 17,000 known species (including tuna, seahorses, gobies, cichlids, flatfish, wrasse, perches, anglerfish, and pufferfish) known from both marine and fresh ...

Genera

Lobotidae contaons the following genera: * ''

Lobotes ''Lobotes'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Lobotidae known as the tripletails. These fishes are found in subtropical and tropical waters in all oceans. Taxonomy ''Lobotes'' was first proposed as a genus in 1830 by the F ...

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

, 1830 (Triplefins) * '' Datnioides'' Bleeker, 1853 (Tiger perches)

Characteristics

Lobotidae have toothless

palatines Palatines () were the citizens and princes of the Palatinates, Holy Roman States that served as capitals for the Holy Roman Emperor. After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the nationality referred more specifically to residents of the ...

and vomers. They have a rounded

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

similar to that of

cichlid Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

s, while the extended posterior lobes on the rear

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 ...

and

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

give the impression of having three tails. The

s are supported by a total of 12 spines and 15 or 16 soft rays. The maximum size of these fishes varies from a

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

of for the New Guinea tiger perch ('' Datnioides campbelli'') to a

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of in the

Atlantic tripletail The Atlantic tripletail (''Lobotes surinamensis''), also known as the black grunt, black perch, buoy fish, buoyfish, brown triple tail, brown tripletail, conchy leaf, dusky triple-tail, dusky tripletail, flasher, sleepfish, triple tail, triple ...

(''Lobotes surinamensis''). The juveniles camouflage themselves by floating on their sides and resembling fallen leaves.

Distribution and habitat

Lobotidae are tropical and subtropical fishes, the triplefins are marine fishes with a pantropical distribution, while the tiger perches are freshwater and brackish waters fishes of rivers and estuaries in south and southeast Asia and New Guinea.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3644910 Acanthuriformes families