Titan Triggerfish
Balistoides viridescens
The titan triggerfish, also known as the giant or moustache triggerfish, is a large triggerfish that lives in lagoons and on reefs down to depths of 50 m (160 ft) across most of the Indo-Pacific, though it is absent from Hawaii. Reaching up to 75 cm (30 in) in length, it is the largest triggerfish found within its range.
Family
Balistidae
Avg Size
50-75 cm
Behaviour
The titan triggerfish is active by day and tends to live alone. Its diet includes sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans, tube worms and coral, and it often feeds by flipping over rocks, stirring up sand and snapping off pieces of branching coral. Smaller fish frequently trail behind it to pick at the debris and small organisms it disturbs. It is one of the few fish able to hunt and consume crown-of-thorns starfish, and it has been seen behaving aggressively toward other fish that intrude on its territory.
Where & When to See It
No dive-site records found for this species yet.