Titan Triggerfish

[Bibhav Behera]

This is a large species of reef fish that are found in the Maldives. Known to get aggressive if it has eggs nearby. We saw it lift rocks up with its mouth and then drop it to find food (crustaceans?). Also seen here is the guide line for divers to find their way back without hitting the shallow reefs (1.5-2ft)

Shot with the GoPro Hero 3
Auto
SS 1/120
f/2.8
ISO 250

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Nice. A very interesting species. Triggerfish are known to have a territory in the shape of a cone expanding upwards from the nest point on the sea bed. When attacked, divers make the common mistake of swimming upwards from the spot (hence staying within the cone and continuing to get attacked) rather than swimming horizontally out of the territory. The bites are quite nasty- they have been known to punch holes in hard plastic diving fins.

TFS

[Sabyasachi Patra]

How big was this triggerfish? How deep was this?

[Mrudul Godbole]

Quite a colourful fish. Good to know more about the water world. Thanks for sharing.

Abhishek, thanks for sharing the interesting details.

[Bibhav Behera]

Hi Sabyasachi this fish has really powerful teeth that jut out of its upper and lower mandibles. It was around 2.5ft in length. We found this fish at the edge of the shallow reefs and the water here was around 8-10ft deep. We did see bigger ones in 30ft depths. We had been instructed not to go too close to them as they can get unpredictable.