The Atlantic tripletail was first formally described in 1790 as Holocentrus surinamensis by the German physician and naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch with its type locality given as the Caribbean Sea off Suriname.

[4] Some authorities treat Lobotes as a monospecific genus with the Pacific tripletail (L. pacifica) being regarded as a synonym of a single pantropical L.

[6] The Atlantic tripletail has an oval- to rhomboid-shaped, compressed body with a slightly concave forehead and an upper jaw which can be protruded a short distance.

It is, however, distributed across tropical seas especially in the Indonesian region which is commonly found in wet markets such as in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

[8] In US waters, Atlantic tripletails are found from Massachusetts and Bermuda to Argentina, the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, from Madeira Island to the Gulf of Guinea, the eastern Pacific from Costa Rica to Peru, and the western Pacific from Japan to Fiji and Tuvalu.

In the spring, tripletails concentrate just offshore of two particular spots: Port Canaveral, Florida (March–June) and Jekyll Island, Georgia (April–July).

[5] Spawning primarily occurs in the summer along both the Atlantic and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coasts, with peaks during July and August.

[13] Large congregations of tripletails during the summer months in the inshore and nearshore waters of coastal Georgia suggest this area is a critical estuarian spawning habitat for the species.

Juvenile tripletail are also vulnerable to predation by birds, such as pelicans and gulls, which can be attracted to floating debris where the fish are sheltering.

[5] A few tons of Atlantic tripletails are fished commercially on the east and west coasts of Florida, and marketed fresh, frozen, or salted.

[5] It is a popular target for recreational anglers and its flesh is highly palatable and is considered superior to some other game fishes.

[14] The Atlantic tripletail is listed as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).