Thomas' triplefin

Norfolkia thomasi, known commonly as the Thomas' triplefin, is a species of triplefin blenny in the genus Norfolkia.[2] It was described by Gilbert Percy Whitley in 1964,[3] naming it in honour of Leonard Rees Thomas who organised the Australian Museum's 1962 Swain Reefs Expedition.[4] The hemispherical eggs of the Thomas' triplefin are covered in sticky threads that help anchor them in the algae on their nesting sites. This adaption helps insure the safety of the eggs. One the eggs hatch the larvae that emerge are planktonic and they stick to shallow waters near the shore. The matured Thomas' triplefin then ventures out into the coral reef and intertidal pools.[2] This species is found in the western Pacific Ocean from the Ryukyu Islands to the Tuamoto Archipelago, in Australia it is distributed from the northern Great Barrier Reef south to Byron Bay, New South Wales.[5]

Thomas' triplefin
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Blenniiformes
Family: Tripterygiidae
Genus: Norfolkia
Species:
N. thomasi
Binomial name
Norfolkia thomasi
Whitley, 1964

References
  1. Williams, J. & Holleman, W. (2014). "Norfolkia thomasi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T179043A1562928. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T179043A1562928.en.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "Norfolkia thomasi'" in FishBase. April 2019 version.
  3. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Norfolkia thomasi". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (29 January 2019). "Order BLENNIIFORMES: Families TRIPTERYGIIDAE and DACTYLOSCOPIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  5. "Norfolkia thomasi". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
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