Slender Triplefin

This slender-bodied species is distinguished with the following characters: large eye; scaleless on opercle; longitudinal scale rows 34-36; segmented anal-fin rays 19-20; no dorsal soft rays branched at tip; females weakly barred; breeding males almost black (Ref. 93281).

Dorsal spines (total): 15 - 18; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8 - 10; Analspines: 2; Analsoft rays: 19 - 20

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).