Starry triggerfish
 | This article needs attention from an expert in Fishes. The specific problem is: Fishbase suggests that A. stellaris and A. stellatus are different species. See the talk page for details. |
| Starry triggerfish | |
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| Species: | A. stellaris
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| Binomial name | |
| Abalistes stellaris (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801)
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The starry triggerfish (Abalistes stellaris), or flat-tailed triggerfish, is a tropical, harmless, oviparous bottom dweller, characterized by some white spots along the spinal dark band. The tail is dorsoventral and looks very thin, when looked upon in profile. There is a deep groove in front of the eye. The background colour is grey with olivegreen spots. Its mitochondrial DNA has been sequenced by the University of Tokyo, Japan.[1]
Nomenclature
The name of the species has been recently changed to Abalistes stellatus and the author of the taxon is now "Anonymous, 1798".[2] The species has also been recently differentiated from the closely related species Abalistes filamentosus.[2]
Length
Male adults grow up to 60 cm.
Habitat
- Indo-West Pacific up to the Red Sea and East Africa
- mud, silty sand bottoms, coral reefs
Diet
Benthic animals such as crustaceans, crabs, mollusks; bony fish.
Status
Not in the IUCN Red List.
Economic use
- in aquariums
- food fish (fresh or dried-salted).
- leather
References
- ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=genomeprj&Cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=33735
- ^ a b MATSUURA, KEIICHI, & TETSUO YOSHINO, 2004. A new triggerfish of the genus Abalistes (Tetraodontiformes: Balistidae) from the western Pacific. Records of the Australian Museum 56(2): 189–194.