Flagtail Triggerfish (juvenile)

Other names: Halfmoon Triggerfish.

Description

Dorsal spines (total): 3; Dorsal soft rays (total): 26-28; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 23 - 26. Juveniles dark brown above, white below with a dark horseshoe-shaped mark on the tail. Adult variable in color: often a pale yellowish-brown to brown with a narrow whitish to bluish or yellowish-orange bar below the rear of the eye, a yellowish-brown triangle edged in white on the tail, and sometimes a bluish chin and belly. The bar running through the pectoral base can either be yellow or black, and some individuals may be largely yellowish posteriorly. 

Distribution

Indo-West Pacific: Reported from Persian Gulf, East Africa south to the Chalumna River, South Africa and east to Samoa, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island. Replaced by closely related Sufflamen albicaudatus in the Red Sea 

Habitat

The halfmoon triggerfish lives around seaward reefs and shallow lagoons. It is solitary and is often found around coral looking for small invertebrates, like crustaceans and worms, on which it feeds.