The blackbelly triggerfish (''Rhinecanthus verrucosus'') is a

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Balistidae found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It is sometimes known as the blackpatch triggerfish.

Description

The blackbelly triggerfish has a laterally compressed, deep body and a long snout. In shape it is rhomboidal and it grows to a maximum length of . The mouth is at the tip of the snout and the eye is set high on a long, straight forehead. The upper half of the body is pale brown and the underparts are white. There is a dark brown streak below the eye and a very large black spot on the underside just anterior to the anal fin. There are three short rows of forward pointing spines on the caudal peduncle. The anterior part of the dorsal fin consists of three spines which can be retracted into a groove and the separate posterior part has 23–26 soft rays. The anal fin is very much the same shape as the posterior dorsal fin and has 21–23 soft rays. The pectoral fin has 13–14 rays. The pelvic fin is covered by a flap of skin except for its extreme tip.''Rhinecanthus verrucosus'' (Linnaeus, 1758): Blackbelly Triggerfish
USGS. Retrieved 2012-02-27.

Distribution

The blackbelly triggerfish is native to shallow areas of the Indo-Pacific where it ranges from the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

and Chagos Islands to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. A likely aquarium release was sighted near

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

in 1995.

Habitat

The blackbelly triggerfish is a territorial species and defends its

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

against other triggerfish including the

lagoon triggerfish The lagoon triggerfish (''Rhinecanthus aculeatus''), also known as the blackbar triggerfish, the Picasso triggerfish, or the Picassofish, is a triggerfish, up to 30 cm in length, found on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. The Hawaiian nam ...

(''Rhinecanthus aculeatus''). Its

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

s and reef flats where it favours areas with

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

s, seagrasses, sandy flats, and stony places. It may move from place to place according to the status of the tide.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2701374 Fish of Thailand Balistidae Fish of Palau Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus