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Tripletail
| TRIPLETAIL Order - Perciformes Family - Lobotidae Genus - Lobotes Species - surinamensis |
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Taxonomy
The tripletail was first described by Bloch as Holocentrus surinamensis in 1790. Later in 1790, the tripletail was referred to by Bloch as Lobotes surinamensis, the name still in use today. The genus name Lobotes is translated from the Latin word "lobus" as lobe. The tripletail was given its species name because it was discovered in Surinam, in northern South America.
Common Names
English language common names are Atlantic tripletail, black grunt, black perch, bouyfish, conchy leaf, dusky tripletail, dusky triple-tail, flasher, sleepfish, triple tail, tripletail, and triple-tail.
Geographical Distribution
The tripletail is found from Massachusetts and Bermuda to Argentina, including both the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It is also found in the eastern Atlantic: Mediterranean Sea as well as from Madeira Island (Portugal) to the Gulf of Guinea, Eastern Pacific: Costa Rica to Peru, and the Western Pacific: Japan, Fiji, and Tuvalu. It is rare north of the Chesapeake Bay. They are found on the Gulf coast April through early October and migrate to the south during the winter months. There has been one report of a tripletail caught off the coast of California. The tripletail is not very abundant in any particular location.
Habitat
The tripletail is found coastally in most tropical and subtropical seas. The tripletail is a semi-migratory pelagic fish. It is normally solitary, but under some conditions the tripletail may form schools. In the summer, they can be found in bays, sounds and estuaries. Juveniles are often found swimming under patches of Sargassum algae. Adults are normally found in waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but may occur in passes, inlets, and bays near river mouths. The tripletail is often found around ship wrecks, supports of beacons, the pilings of jetties, and sea buoys. The tripletail is the only member of its family Lobotidae found in the Atlantic Ocean.
