Family LOBOTIDAE

Lototidae

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Introduction

Previously, the family Lobotidae was regarded as containing a single circumtropical species, Lobotes surinamensis, but with the addition of L. pacificus from the eastern Pacific it is now considered to comprise two species. In 2001 Carpenter recognised two genera, Lobotes and Coius, and five species. Coius, however, was shown by Kottelat (2000) to be a synonym of Anabas Cloquet, 1816 (family Anabantidae), with Asian species now placed in the genus Datnioides, which is often assigned to the family Datnioididae. Nelson (2006), on the other hand, placed the genus Datnioides in the Lobotidae, but indicated that there is no firm evidence of monophyly of the two genera. Hilton & Bemis (2005) proposed a possible close relationship between Datnioides and Lobotes.

Lobotes species inhabit brackish estuaries and coastal seas. They are carnivores, feeding on small fishes and invertebrates. Specimens of Lobotes are distinguished by having large rounded posterior lobes on the dorsal and anal fins that are about equal in size to the caudal fin. Because of this feature they are sometimes referred to as tripletails. Adults attain a maximum length of about 1 m. Young are frequently associated with floating Sargassum well offshore and small juveniles sometimes mimic floating leaves by swimming side on at or near the surface.

Randall et al. (1997) provided a diagnosis and colour illustration of Lobotes surinamensis.

General References

Carpenter, K.E. 2001. Lobotidae. pp. 2942-2945 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp.

Hilton, E.J. & Bemis, W.E. 2005. Grouped tooth replacement in the oral jaws of the Tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis (Perciformes: Lobotidae), with a discussion of its proposed relationship to Datnioides. Copeia 2005(3): 665–672

Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. 2006. Fishes. In, Beesley, P.L. & Wells, A. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 35. Volume 35 Australia : ABRS & CSIRO Publishing Parts 1-3, 2178 pp. [1210]

Kottelat, M. 2000. The type species of the genus-group names Coius Hamilton, 1822 and Datnia Cuvier, 1829 and type-genus of the family-group name Datnioididae Bleeker, 1858. Journal of South Asian Natural History 5(1): 91-94

Nelson, J.S. 2006. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 601 pp.

Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs.

Common Name References

Carpenter, K.E. 2001. Lobotidae. pp. 2942-2945 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp. [2942] (FAO) (Tripletails)

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