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Triggerfishes
Balistidae
Triggerfishes 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-Pacific. Most are found in relatively shallow, coastal habitats, especially at coral reefs, but a few, such as the oceanic triggerfish (Canthidermis maculata), are pelagic. While several species from this family are popular in the marine aquarium trade, they are...
12 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 39 known species
Picassofishes
genusRhinecanthus
Balistoides
genusBalistoides
Sufflamen
genusSufflamen
Melichthys
genusMelichthys
Balistes
genusBalistes
Balistapus
genusBalistapus
Pseudobalistes
genusPseudobalistes
Odonus
genusOdonus
Oceanic Triggerfishes
genusCanthidermis
Xanthichthys
genusXanthichthys
Starry Triggerfishes
genusAbalistes
Xenobalistes
genusXenobalistes
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Balistidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 49612.