In Greek mythology, Triton was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. He is usually represented as a merman, with the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. In art, his attributes include a trident and a conch shell. He is also sometimes shown riding on the back of a giant sea turtle or dolphin.
Triton was the trumpeter of the sea; he lived with his father in a golden palace beneath the waves and had power over both land and sea creatures. In Homer’s Odyssey, Triton gives advice to Odysseus when he washes up on Phaeacia after being lost at sea for ten years.
The name Triton comes from the Greek word meaning “third”, referring to the third largest moon of Neptune. Discovered in 1846 by English astronomer William Lassell, it is slightly larger than Nereid but much smaller than Proteus. It has an irregular surface with numerous impact craters, suggesting that it is an old moon that has been heavily bombarded by meteoroids over its lifetime. Its composition appears to be similar to that of Pluto’s moon Charon, consisting mostly of water ice with some rock mixed in.