Enneanectes boehlkei
Roughhead Triplefin
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Tripterygiidae (Triplefins)
Enneanectes
Enneanectes boehlkei (Roughhead Triplefin)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Naked pectoral fin base and belly; relatively short first spine of first dorsal fin; top of head spinose; lateral ethmoid and sphenotic bones expanded into anterior and posterior flanges; anterior flange, posterior flange, and nasal bone spinose; snout rather blunt; anterior naris a short tube with a lobate tentacle; posterior naris on anterior margin of orbit; orbital tentacle longer than broad; maxilla extends beyond middle of eye; jaw teeth conical, recurved, pointed, and arranged in bands; vomerine teeth in a V-shaped patch; palatine teeth absent; upper margin of operculum slightly concave and bears spines; lower margin strongly rounded and smooth; first gill arch with 6 or 7 short gill rakers on lower limb; measurements (% SL): head length 29.5%–32.8%, snout length 9.8%–12.3%, eye diameter 8%–11.9%, upper jaw length 12.3%–15%, pectoral fin length 35.4%–40%, first spine of first dorsal fin 12.7%–15.9%, third spine of second dorsal fin 14%–19.3%, head depth 17.7%–21.5%, caudal peduncle depth 8.9%–11.2%; pectoral fin rays 14-16; first dorsal fin 3 spines, second 11-13 spines, third 7-9 rays; pelvic fins nearly completely separate; anal fin 2 spines and 16 or 17 rays; body and head covered with ctenoid scales; lateral line discontinuous with 14-17 pored scales and 18-22 notched scales
Light tan with five dark, diagonal bars on side; last bar most distinct; head with bar extending from eye to corner of mouth
Distribution
Southern Florida
Dry Tortugas and Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Gulf of Mexico and the Greater and Lesser Antilles, to Venezuela
Biology
30.5 mm SL
Adults inhabit patch reefs and rocky bottoms (Ref. 5521). Eggs are hemispherical and covered with numerous sticky threads that anchor them in the algae on the nesting sites (Ref. 240). Larvae are planktonic which occur primarily in shallow, nearshore waters (Ref. 94114).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; guarders (nesters); parental care: paternal.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2010-05-03. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941 (as Enneapterygius jordani)
Rosenblatt 1960
Caldwell 1963
Birdsong and Emery 1968
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Greenfield and Johnson 1981
Robins and Ray 1986
Smith 1997
Williams 2002a
Thresher, R.E. (1984) Reproduction in reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Neptune City, New Jersey. 399 p.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Cervigón, F. (1994) Los peces marinos de Venezuela. Volume 3. Fundación Científica Los Roques, Caracas,Venezuela. 295 p.
Williams, J.T. (2003) Tripterygiidae. Triplefins. p. 1748-1749. In K.E. Carpenter (ed.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals.
Victor, B.C. (2013) The Caribbean roughhead triplefin (Enneanectes boehlkei): DNA barcoding reveals a complex of four West Indian sympatric cryptic species (Teleostei: Blennioidei: Tripterygiidae). J. Ocean Sci. Found. 7:44-73. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1041966
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