Balistidae

Starry triggerfish

Abalistes stellatus

Star shaped spots across tropical offshore reefs

• Tropical
• Transcontinental
• Marine fish
• Pacific Ocean
• Africa
• East Asia
• Oceania
• Deep-bodied
• Large
• Tropical fish

Named for the dense galaxy of pale spots illuminating its body, the starry triggerfish is a large, heavily built balistid distributed widely across tropical inshore and shelf waters of the Indo-West Pacific. Its robust, oblong compressed frame presents a greyish-brown to olive-green background sprinkled with tiny starry white and sky-blue speckles. Along the dorsal midline below the dorsal fin, three prominent white saddle blotches glow brightly in juveniles and fade with maturity. Uniquely among triggerfishes, its caudal peduncle is noticeably depressed (broader horizontally than it is deep), supporting an emarginate tail whose lobes prolong into elegant points in large adults. Ranging from the Red Sea and East Africa through northern Australia to Fiji and southern Japan, it occupies coastal sandy bays, sponge gardens, and deep continental shelves from seven to three hundred and fifty meters depth. Diurnal benthic predators feed on crabs, bivalves, gastropods, and brittle stars, excavating sand nests by blowing water jets. Maximum recorded length reaches sixty centimetres.

Sources: Australian Museum — Starry Triggerfish, Abalistes stellatus