If you depress the second spine, this will release the first spine
This unique looking fish is called a gray triggerfish. It is a medium sized fish which will grow to be around nine inches long. Their coloration and pattern are hard to appreciate in the water, especially if it is an older gray triggerfish. Their color fades with age. When you have a chance to stop and look closely, their pattern is amazing. They have an electric blue color that really catches your eye. Speaking of eyes, their eyes sit high up on their body and their pupils are triangular! Their mouth is designed to crush the hard shells of invertebrates. Their teeth are strong. Similar to the trunkfish that we are featuring this month, the gray triggerfish will also blow water out of its mouth to disturb the sand in hopes to reveal prey. Although they are considered omnivores, triggerfish primarily eat invertebrates like crabs, shrimp, urchins, sand dollars, and starfish.
Gray triggerfish get their name from their first dorsal fin. That’s the first fin at the top of their head, right behind their eye. Gray triggerfish can raise their first dorsal spine to lift their fin. A second dorsal spine slides into a groove in the first dorsal spine. If you depress the second spine, this will release the first spine. This trigger mechanism is how the fish gets its common name. Gray triggerfish use this adaption as a defense mechanism to escape predation.
These fish can be found in shallow waters from Canada to Argentina. It is also hypothesized that gray triggerfish drifted across the Gulf Stream from the Americas to Europe and Africa. There are populations in the Mediterranean, the eastern Atlantic, and off the west coast of Africa.
Like the juvenile trunkfish we are featuring this month, this photograph was also taken at Blue Heron Bridge in West Palm Beach, Florida. This fish is considered a common sighting along the Florida coast. As you tell by this photo, gray triggerfish are typically not afraid of divers.
It is also hypothesized that gray triggerfish drifted across the Gulf Stream from the Americas to Europe and Africa
Did you know?
- Gray triggerfish are considered a shallow water species. They are typically found in less than fifty feet of water.
- Male triggerfish can be very territorial.
- Triggerfish can lighten or darken their body color.
- Triggerfish are only found in saltwater.
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