Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus

Family : Balistidae

Text © Giuseppe Mazza

 

English translation by Mario Beltramini

 

The unfamiliar Yellowmargin triggerfish (Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus Rüppell, 1829) belongs to the class of Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, to the order of Tetraodontiformes and to the family of Balistidae, the triggerfishes.

The name of the genus “pseudobalistes” comes from the Greek “pseudes” = false, similar in appearance, and from the Latin “ballista” = crossbow, the same etymology, then, as the genus Balistes. It is, finally, a fish analogous to those of the genus Balistes.

The name of the species “flavimarginatus” means in Latin “with yellow margin”, with reference to the colour of the fish.

Zoogeography

It is present in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. We find it, as an indication, along the African coast, from South Africa to the Red Sea, the Seychelles, Mauritius, Réunion and Maldives, in India, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Micronesia, Philippines, Taiwan and southern Japan. Eastwards, it has colonized Samoa and the Tuamotu Islands archipelago. Southwards, it reaches Tonga Island.

Ecology-Habitat

It lives in the madreporic formations up to 50 m of depth, but is often found also in shallow waters, in the estuaries and in muddy lagoons.

Morpho-physiology

It can be 60 cm long. The body is flat, ovoid, protected, as we would expect from the triggerfishes, by a coating of bony scales.

The first dorsal fin is an erectile trigger formed by three spiny rays which the fish can block, for defence, in erect position. Like all triggerfishes, it keeps armed also after the death, because the first spine, long and sharp, is embedded at the base of the second and it is necessary a voluntary movement of the third one for folding it in the appropriate lodging on the

A formidable deterrent for the jaws of the predators, which may get injured while swallowing the fish, and a way for finding safe shelters. It is sufficient, in fact, to choose as den a cavity with a narrow door, where it can enter only with lowered fin. Once inside, the fish opens the rigger and can stay safe and calm, sure of not being carried out by the currents while sleeping or resting.

The second dorsal fin counts 24-27 soft rays and is almost specular to the anal which has 22-25 of them. The pectoral ones have 15-16 unarmed rays, the ventral are reduced to a protuberance and the caudal, rounded in the juveniles, becomes than truncated with elongated lobes in the adults.

The cheeks have no scales and the mouth, small but robust, shows solid incisors for breaking madrepores and shells. In the whole, the livery is unmistakably clear. The juveniles have yellow belly with black or blue spotting and white back with black bands. Then they get greenish with black small spots and finally the adults exhibit, as the Latin name of the species recites, a showy yellow-orange margin on the edge of the fins whilst the spotting disappears and the scales grow up showing a regular relief.

Ethology-Reproductive Biology

The Yellowmargin triggerfish nourishes of benthic invertebrates such as sea urchins, crustaceans, molluscs, tubeworms and polyps but also of sea weeds.

As usual among the triggerfishes, it digs, with water jets fro the mouth, a nest in the sand and after the fecundation the female keeps the watch to the eggs until the hatching occurs attacking the intruders ferociously. The Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus is often fished and consumes fresh or dried by the local populations, but there are reports of cases of ciguatera, a serious intoxication caused mainly by its herbivorous alimentation, which may include poisonous sea weeds. The members of the species double in 15 months and the vulnerability index is presently low, just 29 on a scale of 100.

Synonyms

Balistes flavimarginatus Rüppell, 1829.

 

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