Many-rayed Threefin

About this species

The variable triplefin or striped triplefin is a triplefin native to New Zealand, but also introduced to Tasmania, Australia, most likely in shipments of oysters. It is found in rock pools and depths down to 30 metres, in reef areas of broken rock with kelp.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Variable triplefin”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 140 records
February: 135 records
March: 181 records
April: 93 records
May: 61 records
June: 42 records
July: 38 records
August: 36 records
September: 49 records
October: 156 records
November: 234 records
December: 157 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–26 m · Deepest record: 81.5 m

0–10 m: 457 records
10–20 m: 165 records
20–30 m: 79 records
30–40 m: 9 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 9–18 °C

8–10 °C: 4 records
10–12 °C: 4 records
12–14 °C: 112 records
14–16 °C: 17 records
16–18 °C: 362 records
18–20 °C: 12 records

Photos

(c) Jenny Saito, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kelvin Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) William Harland, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Many-rayed Threefin, Striped Triplefin, Variable Threefin, Variable Triplefin

Other scientific names: Blennius varius, Forsterygion multiradiatum, Tripterygion robustum, Tripterygion varium, Trypterigium robustum

Similar species

Common Threefin
Forsterygion lapillum
Banded triplefin
Forsterygion malcolmi
Oblique-swimming Triplefin
Forsterygion maryannae
Mottled triplefin
Forsterygion capito
Yellow-and-black Triplefin
Forsterygion flavonigrum
Estuarine Threefin
Forsterygion gymnotum

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
867 open-data records from 1907 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.