Fish
Fish
Queen Triggerfish
Balistes vetula
The Queen Triggerfish is one of the most vividly coloured reef fish in Tobago's waters, named for a locking dorsal spine ("trigger") it wedges into reef crevices to avoid being pulled out by predators.
The Queen Triggerfish is one of the most vividly coloured reef fish in Tobago's waters, named for a locking dorsal spine ("trigger") it wedges into reef crevices to avoid being pulled out by predators.
Identification
An oval-bodied, laterally compressed fish patterned in blues, greens, and yellows with striking blue lines radiating from the eyes and across the cheeks, and a crescent-shaped tail with elongated upper and lower lobes in mature adults. Adults reach around 40 to 50 cm.
Ecology
Feeds on hard-shelled invertebrates such as sea urchins, crabs, and molluscs, crushed with strong jaws and specialised teeth, and is known to blow jets of water at the sand to expose buried prey. When threatened, it retreats into a reef crevice and locks an erectile first dorsal spine upright using a smaller second "trigger" spine behind it, wedging its body in place so firmly that predators cannot pull it out, the origin of the family's common name.
In Trinidad and Tobago
Found on Tobago's coral reefs, valued both by divers and underwater photographers for its vivid colouration and by fisheries as a food fish, a combination that has contributed to a global Vulnerable assessment reflecting fishing pressure across its Caribbean and wider range.
Threats
- Overfishing
- Coral reef degradation
