Shortsnout Spikefish

Triacanthodes ethiops has six spines and 15 or 16 soft rays supporting the dorsal fin. The nala fin has 12 or 13 soft rays. There is a single spine and one or two soft rays in the pelvic fins. The eye has a diameter slightly greater than the length of the snout, and the area between the eyes is either straight or slightly indented. The overall colour of the body is reddish, paler ventrally, marked with three large yellow stripes and two smaller orange stripes, the lower yellow stripe running along the mid-flank from the eye to the caudal peduncle. This species has a maximum published standard length of 9.4 cm (3.7 in).

Triacanthodes ethiops has an Indo-West Pacific distribution and has been recorded to be found in East Africa, the Maldives, Japan, the East China Sea, Philippines, Indonesia, New Caledonia, and Australia. It is a demersal fish found at depths between 50 and 458 m (164 and 1,503 ft).

== References ==

Triacanthodes ethiops is classified in the genus Triacanthodes, a name which suffixes -odes, meaning "having the form of", onto Triacanthus, as it was thought that this genus was closely related to Triacanthus. The specific name, ethiops, means "blackened" or "scorched", a reference to the black colour of the preserved holotype, although this is not the colour of this fish in life.