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Species Details

Details of Halfmoon triggerfish will be displayed below

Halfmoon triggerfi...   

Common Name: Flagtail Triggerfish,, Half-moon Triggerfish, Yellowstreak Triggerfish
Scientific Name: Sufflamen chrysopterum
Local Name: Falhu'rondu
Dhivehi Name: ފަޅު ރޮނޑު
Animalia  (Kingdom)
Chordata  (Plylum)
Teleostei  (Class)
Tetraodontiformes  (Order)
Unknown  (Family)
Unknown   (Genus)

Halfmoon triggerfish's description

Dark brownish with one pale streak from eye to lower pectoral base and another short one above gill opening. Lower part of head and abdomen dark blue or purplish. Caudal fin brownish yellow, broadly edged in white. Small juveniles are dark brown above and white below with a dark horseshoe-shaped mark on the tail

Dorsal fin with 3 spines and 26-28 rays.     Anal fin with 23-26 rays.    Pectoral fin with 12-14 rays.

Deep groove before eye. Longitudinal rows of small spines following scale centers on about posterior third of body. Dorsal and anal fins slightly elevated anteriorly. Caudal fin truncate to slightly rounded with acute corners.

 

Halfmoon triggerfish's facts

Did you know?

  • Triggerfish have a hard spine Dorsal Fin that can be locked.
  • When sleeping this spine is used to wedge them into place in a crevasse and so deter predators from pulling them out of their bed!
  • The spine is also held erect as a warning to other fish to stay away.

Halfmoon triggerfish's Behavior & Ecology

Widespread Indo-Pacific. Inhabit coastal to outer reefs. Habitats from silty lagoons to pristine outer reef walls. Occur in shallow lagoon and seaward reefs. Solitary and territorial.

Halfmoon triggerfish's Feeding

They feed on a wide range of food items, including live coral, algae, sea urchins, crabs, molluscs and other invertebrate groups as well as fish and sea squirts.

Halfmoon triggerfish's Reproduction

Male defends a defined territory, within which a female resides. On the day prior to spawning, female pushes her snout into the sandy bottom repeatedly and removes small stones and pieces of coral at several sites. Adhesive eggs are deposited on the sandy bottoms or in a small cavity of the reef covered with sand. Female fans the eggs and defends the nest, while male patrols around female. Females are territorial, solely tending and guarding the eggs . Males exhibit polygyny

Halfmoon triggerfish habitat

This species inhabits lagoons and seaward reefs (Allen et al. 2003). It is relatively common over open sandy to hard bottomed areas with low scattered corals, particularly the submarine terrace. It is generally solitary and territorial and feeds on a variety of benthic invertebrates (Myers 1989). The maximum total length is 22 cm (Psomadakis et al. 2019).

This species exhibits female territoriality and polygyny (Ishihara and Kuwamura 1996). The males grow larger than the females, and the species exhibits sexual dichromatism (Kawase and Nakazono 1994, Ishihara and Kuwamura 1996). It has been confirmed that a female-to-male sex change occurs in this species (Takamoto et al. 2003). The mating system is polygynous, wherein each male territory encompasses 1-3 female territories (Ishihara and Kuwamura 1996, Takamoto et al. 2003). Pair spawning occurs early in the morning within hollow spaces on the substrate, and females exclusively care for the eggs until they are hatched at dusk on the same day (Ishihara and Kuwamura 1996). In Okinawa, Japan, the reproductive season is from May to September (Seki et al. 2009).

Halfmoon triggerfish threats

There are no known major threats.

Halfmoon triggerfish's status