Triacanthus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Triacanthidae, the triplespines or tripodfishes.

Triacanthus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1786 by the German naturalist Lorenz Oken with Balistes biaculeatus as its type species by monotypy.

[1] B. aculeatus was first formally described in 1786 by the German physician and naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch with its type locality given as the Indian Ocean.

Balistes, the genus the type species was originally classified in, does not possess pelvic fin spines.

[8] These fishes are found in coastal waters and estuaries, on sand or mud flats typically no deeper than 60 m (200 ft).