Triacanthidae
Triacanthidae,, meaning "three", and ἄκανθα known as the triplespines or tripodfishes, is a family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes the pufferfishes, boxfishes, filefishes and related groups. The family is made up of four extant genera and three extinct genera which are known from fossils.
Taxonomy
Triacanthidae was first proposed as a family in 1859 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker, and, in 1968, James C. Tyler classified it within the suborder Triacanthoidei alongside the Triacanthodidae. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this as suborder of the order Tetraodontiformes.Genera
Triacanthidae contains the following extant genera:Characteristics
Triacanthidae triplespines's, like their relatives the triggerfishes and the filefishes first ray of the dorsal fin is formed to a spine. Further, they have two spines in place of their ventral fins. They have sharp and heavy teeth, which they use to eat hard-shelled molluscs and crustaceans.Not much is known about how the fish live. They are essentially offshore fish that only come close to land occasionally. They range from in length.