Flat-tailed Trigger-fish

About this species

Abalistes stellatus, the starry triggerfish or flat-tailed triggerfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Balistidae, the triggerfishes. This triggerfish has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Abalistes stellatus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 940 records
February: 257 records
March: 78 records
April: 563 records
May: 68 records
June: 476 records
July: 46 records
August: 875 records
September: 2,363 records
October: 2,032 records
November: 1,319 records
December: 156 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 28–78 m · Deepest record: 1,679 m

0–10 m: 7 records
10–20 m: 88 records
20–30 m: 1,133 records
30–40 m: 1,870 records
40–50 m: 1,987 records
50–60 m: 1,332 records
60–70 m: 971 records
70–80 m: 647 records
80–90 m: 616 records
90–100 m: 122 records
100–110 m: 84 records
110+ m: 30 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 18–29 °C

16–18 °C: 1 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 5 records
24–26 °C: 63 records
26–28 °C: 526 records
28–30 °C: 71 records

Photos

(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) pavlaki1968, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ganjar Cahyadi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) shahar chaikin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Eisenhauer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Flat-tailed Trigger-fish, Flat-tailed Triggerfish, Star Puffer, starry triggerfish, Starry Trigger-fish

Names in 6 more languages

Spanish: Ballesta Estrellado
Filipino: Pakoy, Papakol
French: Baliste étoilé
Japanese: Okihagi, オキハギ
Thai: ปลาวัวจุดขาว
Simplified Chinese: 宽尾鳞鲀, 星點寬尾鱗魨

Other scientific names: Abalistes stellairs, Abalistes stellaris, Balistes phaleratus, Balistes stellaris, Balistes stellatus, Balistes vachellii

Similar species

Hairfin Triggerfish
Abalistes filamentosus
Orange-lined triggerfish
Balistapus undulatus
Rough triggerfish
Canthidermis maculata
Black Triggerfish
Sufflamen chrysopterum
Black durgon
Melichthys niger
Pinktail triggerfish
Melichthys vidua

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
10,566 open-data records from 1798 to 2022.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.