Triggerfish of the family Balistidae

Moorish

Moorish

Active Member
5+ year member
Over my 17 years of existence I have visited atleast 22 European aquariums and 32 American/Canadian aquariums. Since I own multiple Triggerfish at my home aquarium, I thought it would be interesting to check Zootierliste on the listings of triggerfish.
There are about 40 species of known triggerfish and from those 40, 24 species are kept at European zoos and aquaria.
I will now make a list of all species and their captive status and availability in the gallery.

1) Rhinecanthus Assasi - Arabian Picassofish, kept at 6 aquariums throughout Europe.
There are no pictures of this species in the gallery
2) Melichthys Niger - Black Durgon is kept at 7 European collections.
There are 3 pictures of this species in the gallery like this one: Black Triggerfish (Melichthys niger) | ZooChat
3) Rhinecanthus Verrucosus - Blackberry Triggerfish is kept at 7 European collections
There is only one photo of this species in the gallery: Bursa triggerfish - Rhinecanthus verrucosus | ZooChat
4) Sufflamen Albicaudatum - Bluethroat Triggerfish is seen at only one collection, Arnhem (Burgers Zoo) there appear to be no photos of this species in the gallery
5) Sufflamen Bursa - Boomerang Triggerfish is currently kept at the Dusseldorf Aquazoo, there are 3 photos of this species in the gallery: Scythe Triggerfish (Sufflamen bursa) | ZooChat
 
Another interesting project!
Moorish said:
1) Rhinecanthus assasi - Arabian Picassofish, kept at 6 aquariums throughout Europe.
There are no pictures of this species in the gallery
Click to expand...
;)

It's worth pointing out now that with scientific names, although the genus name has a capitalised first letter, the species (and subspecies) names are not capitalised. It's also standard practice to italicise the scientific name if it's typed. :)
 
Moorish said:
I will now make a list of all species and their captive status and availability in the gallery.
Click to expand...
Are you stopping with just five?

:p

Hix
 
Nice thread of the style of the butterflyfishes in genus Chaetodon, on which is for sure based. Triggerfishes - and tetraodontiforms in general - are some of my favourite fishes. I copypaste here the triggerfish section of my animal species seen in captivity:

Balistapus undulatus (Orange-lined triggerfish). Faunia. 2017. Madrid zoo-aquarium. 2017
Balistes capriscus (Grey triggerfish). Barcelona aquarium. 2013
Balistes vetula (Queen triggerfish). Madrid zoo-aquarium. 2017
Balistoides conspicillum (Clown triggerfish). Faunia. 2009. La Rochelle aquarium. 2009. Barcelona aquarium. 2013. Madrid zoo-aquarium. 2017. Duisburg zoo. 2017. Cologne zoo. 2017. Aquarium shops, various times.
Melichthys indicus (Indian triggerfish). Seaworld San Diego. 2016
Melichthys niger (Black triggerfish). La Rochelle aquarium. 2009
Odonus niger (Red-toothed triggerfish). Aquarium shop. 2004. Liberec botanical garden. 2013
Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus (Yellowmargined triggerfish). Madrid zoo-aquarium. 2017
Pseudobalistes naufragium (Stone triggerfish). Birch aquarium. 2016
Rhinecanthus aculeatus (Picassofish). Aquarium shops, several times. Most public aquariums. Wuppertal zoo. 2017
Rhinecanthus rectangulus (Wedge-tail triggerfish). Aquarium shop. 2016
Rhinecanthus verrucosus (Blackbelly triggerfish). Aquarium shop. 2014
Sufflamen verres (Orangeside triggerfish). Birch aquarium. 2016
Xanthichthys lineopunctatus (Striped triggerfish). La Rochelle aquarium. 2009
 
Nice thread of an intresting family from which I've seen already quite a number of species. Hope I ( an other ZooChatters ) can add photos of the species still missing in our Gallery !
 
To help to fill the gaps in our Gallery I started checking my pictures of Burger's Zoo and found indeed 2 ( rather bad ) photos of the Bluethroat triggerfish ( Sufflamen albicaudatum ). They were made on 2 different visits in 2016 and 2017 and at both times I saw ( at least on in the large shark-tank. I've already uploaded these photos and they can be found here :
Sufflamen albicaudatum | ZooChat
Sufflamen albicaudattum | ZooChat
 
I add here an image of each species represented in the Gallery:

Abalistes stellaris by Hix:
full


Balistapus undulatus by vogelcommando:
full


Balistes capriscus by Newzooboy:
full


Balistes vetula by vogelcommando:
full


Balistoides conspicillum by vogelcommando:
full


Balistoides viridescens by vogelcommando:
full


Melichthys indicus by me (this species was not represented previously in the gallery so I uploaded it)
full


Melichthys niger by me:
full


Melichthys vidua by Hix:
full


Odonus niger by vogelcommando:
full


The number of images by post is limited to 20 so I'll continue in the next message
 
Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus by Hix:
full


Pseudobalistes fuscus by vogelcommando:
full


Pseudobalistes naufragium by me. This species was not represented previously in the gallery, so I uploaded it.
full


Rhinecanthus aculeatus by vogelcommando:
full


Rhinecanthus assasi by devilfish:
full


Rhinecanthus rectangulus by Hix:
full


Rhinecanthus verrucosus by Vogelcommando:
full


Sufflamen albicaudatum by vogelcommando:
full


Sufflamen bursa by Hix:
full


Sufflamen verres by me. This species was not represented previously in the gallery so I've uploaded it:
full


Xanthichthys auromarginatus by vogelcommando:
full


Xanthichthys lineopunctatus by me:
full
 
Balistapus undulatus - Orange-lined triggerfish
This species is kept at 20 European collections like the Genova aquarium (which I have visited)
There are many photos of this species in the gallery, like this one: Orange-striped triggerfish - Balistapus undulatus | ZooChat

Balistoides conspicillum - Clown triggerfish is seen at a huge array of European zoos, there are many photos of this species in the gallery, like this one: Clown Triggerfish | ZooChat

Balistoides viridescens - Titan triggerfish
Seen at 4 aquaria in Europe, there are 4 photos of this species in the gallery: Titan triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens) | ZooChat

Canthidermis macrolepis - Large-scale triggerfish is kept at no European collections, there are no photos of this species in the gallery

Canthidermis Maculata - Spotted oceanic triggerfish is seen at no European aquariums and there appear to be no photos of this species in the gallery.

Canthidermis Sufflamen - Ocean triggerfish is kept at the Palma aquarium, there are no photos of this species in the gallery.
 
Everytime I see a Clown Triggerfish I see big sharp teeth and can hear the phrase "You'll float too". I don't have Coulrophobia but might have Coulrotriggerphobia!
 
This is like the original and most unofficial Photo Guide! :p

I have seen 11 identified species of triggerfish this far, of which 7 have photographs uploaded to ZooChat:
Grey Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus
Clown Triggerfish, Balistoides conspicillum
Red-Toothed Triggerfish, Odonus niger
Black Triggerfish, Melichthys niger
Pinktail Triggerfish, Melichthys vidua
Lagoon Triggerfish, Rhinecanthus aculeatus
Gilded Triggerfish, Xanthichthys auromarginatus

Species I have seen but not currently photographed are Queen Triggerfish, Large-Scale Ocean Triggerfish, Blue-and-Gold Triggerfish, and Orangeside Triggerfish. I may have a photo of Queen Triggerfish taken at Biomes Marine Biology Center but I haven't gone through those photos yet and can't remember if I photographed their individual. I also have a pretty bad photo of the ocean triggerfish that might be in the identification gallery but I'm having trouble finding it. There's probably also one or two other species in the identification gallery that I never worked out and have since forgotten about :(

~Thylo
 
I saw a gigantic 3 foot triggerfish in the Smithsonian once during a behind the scenes tour. It was in the fish types room at the MSC. I didn't see the ID tag and forgot to ask about it. I think it might've been a Stone Triggerfish (Pseudobalistes naufragium)?
 
ThylacineAlive said:
This is like the original and most unofficial Photo Guide! :p
Click to expand...

This was much anterior to any of the official photo guides.

I've searched the names of the species mentioned by you and found that the large-scaled ocean triggerfish most probably refers to Canthidermis macrolepis, that would be interesting because it don't have photos in the Gallery and hence also not in this thread.

What happened with the images of Sufflamen albicaudatum and Sufflamen verres in the thread?
 
Kakapo said:
This was much anterior to any of the official photo guides.

I've searched the names of the species mentioned by you and found that the large-scaled ocean triggerfish most probably refers to Canthidermis macrolepis, that would be interesting because it don't have photos in the Gallery and hence also not in this thread.
Click to expand...

Yes I know.

My photo is better than I remember, but still not great. In any case, I give you the Large-Scaled Ocean Triggerfish, Canthidermis macrolepis.

~Thylo
 
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