Lobotidae
{{Short description|Family of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Lobotes surinamensis Gobius.jpg
| image_caption = Atlantic tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis)
| taxon = Lobotidae
| authority = Gill, 1861
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = See text
}}
Lobotidae is a family of ray-finned fishes that includes the tripletails, which are circumtropical marine fishes, and tiger perches, which are Asian freshwater fishes. The family is placed in the order Spariformes in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World but this classification and the taxa included within the family is not agreed on by all workers.
Taxonomy
Lobotidae was first proposed as a family in 1861 by the American biologist Theodore Gill.{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }} The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the Lobotidae within the order Spariformes and provisionally includes the genus Datnioides in the family.{{cite book |author1=Nelson, J.S. |author1-link=Joseph S. Nelson |author2=Grande, T.C. |author3=Wilson, M.V.H. |year=2016 |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |place=Hoboken, NJ |pages=502–506 |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |lccn=2015037522 |oclc=951899884 |ol=25909650M |doi=10.1002/9781119174844}} Other workers have included a third genus, Hapalogenys in the Lobotidae.{{FishBase family|family=Lobotidae|month=June|year=2023}} However, yet more workers place these three taxa in monotypic families within the order Lobotiformes in the series Eupercaria.{{cite journal | author1 = Ricardo Betancur-R | author2 = Edward O. Wiley | author3 = Gloria Arratia | author4 = Arturo Acero | author5 = Nicolas Bailly | author6 = Masaki Miya | author7 = Guillaume Lecointre | author8 = Guillermo Ortí | display-authors = 3 | title =Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes | journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 17 | issue = 162 | year = 2017 | page = 162 | doi = 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3| doi-access = free | pmid = 28683774 | pmc = 5501477 | bibcode = 2017BMCEE..17..162B }}
Genera
Characteristics
Lobotidae have toothless palatines and vomers. They have a rounded caudal fin similar to that of cichlids, while the extended posterior lobes on the rear dorsal fin and anal fin give the impression of having three tails. The dorsal fins are supported by a total of 12 spines and 15 or 16 soft rays. The maximum size of these fishes varies from a standard length of {{cvt|32|cm}} for the New Guinea tiger perch (Datnioides campbelli) to a total length of {{cvt|110|cm}} in the Atlantic tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis). The juveniles camouflage themselves by floating on their sides and resembling fallen leaves.