The reef triggerfish (''Rhinecanthus rectangulus''), also known as the rectangular triggerfish, wedgetail triggerfish or by its Hawaiian name humuhumunukunukuāpuaa (, meaning 'triggerfish with a snout like a pig', also spelled humuhumunukunukuapua'a or just humuhumu for short), is one of several

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

triggerfish Triggerfish are about 40 species of often brightly colored fish of the family Balistidae. Often marked by lines and spots, they inhabit tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world, with the greatest species richness in the Indo-Pacifi ...

. It is found at reefs 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 ...

and is the state fish of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The name humuhumunukunukuāpuaa serves for both singular and plural descriptions. The fish shares its Hawaiian name with 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 ...

(''R. aculeatus''), another fish also found in the Indo-Pacific.

Description

The triggerfish's teeth and top lip are blue and the teeth are set close together inside its relatively plump mouth. It has a small second dorsal spine which is used to lock its main spine into an upright position. When sheltering in a small crevice, this locking of its spine helps protect the fish against being extracted by a predator. When fleeing from predators, it sometimes makes grunting noises, possibly to warn other nearby triggerfish. The triggerfish can blow jets of water from its mouth to help it find

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

invertebrates buried under the substrate. It can often be seen spitting sand from its mouth to sift through the material for edible detritus or organisms. Reef triggers, up to in length, are fairly aggressive and generally do not tolerate conspecific individuals in their general vicinity; thus the fish is often solitary. This is particularly true in captivity. They have the ability to rapidly alter their coloration. They can fade into a relatively drab appearance when sleeping or demonstrating submission, while their coloration is often the most vivid when they are healthy and unthreatened by their surroundings. They have also been known to bite and attack swimmers in their area, often around the ankle, sometimes leaving marks. File:Wedgetail Triggerfish, juvenile - Rhinecanthus rectangulus (10913246303).jpg, Juvenile reef triggerfish File:Reef Triggerfish.JPG, Adult in Hāʻena State Park File:Reef trigger fish. (11111536093).jpg, The

, which shares the Hawaiian name ''humuhumunukunukuapuaa'' with the reef triggerfish.

Hawaii state fish

The reef triggerfish was originally designated the official fish of Hawaii in 1985, but due to an expiration of a Hawaiian state law after five years, it ceased to be the

state fish This is a list of official and unofficial U.S. state fishes: __TOC__ Table See also * Lists of U.S. state insignia * Lists of U.S. state animals Notes References Netstate.com state fish tables External links {{state insignia .State ...

in 1990. On April 17, 2006, bill HB1982 was presented to the

Governor of Hawaii The governor of Hawaii ( haw, Ke Kiaʻaina o Hawaiʻi) is the head of government of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a direct ...

, which permanently reinstated the reef triggerfish (humuhumunukunukuāpuaa) as the state fish of Hawaii. The bill passed into law on May 2, 2006, and was effective upon its approval.Hawaii may honor long-named fish - Weird news
NBC News (2006-04-18). Retrieved on 2015-05-18. Decades prior to official recognition, humuhumunukunukuāpuaa were considered a symbol of Hawai'i. The song ''

My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii "My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii", written by Tommy Harrison, Bill Cogswell, and Johnny Noble in Hawaii in 1933, is a Hawaiian song in the Hawaiian musical style known as '' hapa haole''. One of the earliest recordings by Ted Fio Rito ...

'' includes the line " . . .where the humuhumunukunukuāpuaa go swimming by . . ." It is also featured prominently in the Disney Channel Original Movie ''High School Musical 2'' with a song of the same name.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q669512 reef triggerfish Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of Hawaii Fish of the Indian Ocean Symbols of Hawaii reef triggerfish

Description

Hawaii state fish

References

Further reading

External links