Forsterygion lapillum
Common triplefin
Forsterygion lapillum, Poor Knights Is, New Zealand, Photo: Andrew Green
Forsterygion lapillum, male, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, Photo: Ian Shaw
Forsterygion lapillum, Poor Knights Is, New Zealand, Photo: Andrew Green
Forsterygion lapillum, Geelong, Victoria, Photo: Andrew Green
Forsterygion lapillum, Geelong, Victoria, Photo: Andrew Green
Forsterygion lapillum, Spawning male, Geelong, Victoria, Photo: Andrew Green
Forsterygion lapillum, Geelong, Victoria, Photo: Andrew Green
Similar Species
Distribution
Description
Body white through grey-brown to black (spawning males are black). Black stripe from above the eye to the tail (not visible in black specimens). Endemic to New Zealand, but introduced to Victoria's Port Phillip Bay (e.g. Geelong area), presumably via ships' ballast water. Darker specimens could be confused with F varium, but the latter lacks the stripe, is of a more blotchy appearance and has a yellow eye. F varium is another New Zealand endemic which has also made its way to Australia, but this time to Hobart, Tasmania.
Information
Max Size: 7 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 13.8-21.6°C
Depth: N/A
Habitat Generalization Index: 15.24
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Not Evaluated
Occurrence: Infrequent (8.4% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Many (16 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Andrew Green