Family: LOBOTIDAE, Tripletail, Tripletails

FAMILY LOBOTIDAE

TRIPLETAILS

Moderately large fishes (to ~1.1 m); body oval to oblong, somewhat compressed; top jaw slightly protrusible; no teeth on roof of mouth; preopercle strongly serrated; operculum with 2 flat, hidden spines; dorsal fin with XII strong spines, 15-16 soft rays, no notch between spiny and soft part; anal fin III, 11; soft dorsal and anal fins high, with rounded ends, reaching well past base of tail fin, giving appearance to symmetrical extra tails; pectorals shorter than pelvics; tail fin rounded, with 15 branched rays; scales moderate sized, rough, covering body and head except before and below eyes and jaws, bases of dorsal and anal fins scaled.

A circumglobal, tropical to subtropical family with one genus and two species.One Atlantic + Indo-central Pacific species occurs in our region.

PREPARED BY D ROSS ROBERTSON, AFTER CARPENTER (2002)