hourglass triplefin
Enneapterygius elegans (Peters, 1876)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Enneapterygius elegans, the hourglass triplefin (or elegant triplefin in the United Kingdom), is a species of triplefin blenny in the genus Enneapterygius. It was originally described by Wilhelm Peters as a species of Tripterygium, in 1876, but was reassigned to Enneapterygius by W. Holleman in 1986. It is a tropical blenny known from reefs across the western central Indian to the central Pacific Ocean, and swims at a depth range of 0–12 metres. Male hourglass triplefins can reach a maximum length of 4 centimetres. The blenny gets its common name from an hourglass-shaped marking on its body.
Wikipedia contributors, Enneapterygius elegans; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:41:04.802963+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Enneapterygius elegans (Peters, 1876)
- Name authority
- (Peters, 1876)
- Common name
- hourglass triplefin
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Blenniiformes
- Family
- Tripterygiidae
- Genus
- Enneapterygius
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderBlenniiformes
- familyTripterygiidae Whitley, 1931
- subfamilyTripterygiinae Whitley, 1931
- genusEnneapterygius Rüppell, 1835
- speciesEnneapterygius elegans (Peters, 1876)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Enneapterygius. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Enneapterygius bahasa Fricke, 1997 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius destai Clark, 1980 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius elaine Holleman, 2005 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius etheostoma (Jordan & Snyder, 1902) | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius flavoccipitis Shen, 1994 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius genamaculatus Holleman, 2005 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius gruschkai Holleman, 2005 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius hollemani Randall, 1995 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius melanospilus Randall, 1995 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius minutus (Günther, 1877) | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius mirabilis Fricke, 1994 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enneapterygius miyakensis Fricke, 1987 | TripterygiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Tripterygium elegans Peters, 1876 Peters, 1876 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219174 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:39VZ5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.