Thomas' triplefin (''Norfolkia thomasi'') is a species of

triplefin Threefin or triplefin blennies are blenniiforms, small percomorph marine fish of the family Tripterygiidae. Found in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the family contains about 150 species in 30 genera. Th ...

blenny in the genus ''

Norfolkia ''Norfolkia'' is a genus of triplefins in the family Tripterygiidae. They are found I the Indo-Pacific region. Species There are four species currently recognised in ''Norfolkia'': * Tropical scaly-headed triplefin, '' Norfolkia brachylepis'' ...

''. It was described by Gilbert Percy Whitley in 1964, naming it in honour of Leonard Rees Thomas who organised the Australian Museum's 1962 Swain Reefs Expedition. 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. This species is found in the western Pacific Ocean from the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

to the Tuamoto Archipelago, in Australia it is distributed from the northern

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

south to Byron Bay, New South Wales.

References

Thomas' triplefin Fish described in 1964 {{blenniiformes-stub