Titan triggerfish

About this species

The titan triggerfish, giant triggerfish or moustache triggerfish is a large species of triggerfish found in lagoons and at reefs to depths of 50 m (160 ft) in most of the Indo-Pacific, though it is absent from Hawaii. With a length of up to 75 centimetres (30 in), it is the largest species of triggerfish in its range.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 353 records
February: 453 records
March: 575 records
April: 466 records
May: 400 records
June: 332 records
July: 455 records
August: 391 records
September: 476 records
October: 523 records
November: 421 records
December: 388 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–25 m · Deepest record: 212 m

0–10 m: 244 records
10–20 m: 480 records
20–30 m: 128 records
30–40 m: 22 records
40–50 m: 22 records
50–60 m: 13 records
60–70 m: 5 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 5 records
26–28 °C: 63 records
28–30 °C: 177 records

Photos

(c) Leonard Low from Australia, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Sockrosma, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) R Vasconcellos, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) João D'Andretta, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Sockrosma, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Gergely Nigg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ульяна Лалак, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Titan triggerfish, Black-lipped Triggerfish, bluefin filefish, Blue-finned Triggerfish, Dotty Trigger-fish, Dotty Triggerfish, Giant Triggerfish, Leubiem manok, Moustache Triggerfish, titan triggerfish

Names in 7 more languages

German: Grüner Riesendrückerfisch, Riesen-Drückerfisch
Spanish: Ballesta Bicolor Gigante
Filipino: Pakoy, Papakol
French: Baliste à tête jaune, Baliste olivâtre, Baliste titan, Baliste verdâtre
Japanese: Gomamongara, ゴマモンガラ
Thai: ปลาวัวไททัน, ปลาวัวหน้าลาย, ปลาวัวอำมหิต
Simplified Chinese: 剝皮魚, 綠擬鱗魨, 绿拟鳞鲀, 胡麻皮剝魨, 褐拟鳞鲀, 褐擬板機魨, 褐擬鱗魨, 黃褐砲彈

Other scientific names: Balistapus viridescens, Balistes brasiliensis, Balistes nigromarginatus, Balistes viridescens, Balistoides veridescens, Pachynathus nigromarginatus, Pseudobalistes viridescens

Similar species

Clown triggerfish
Balistoides conspicillum
Flat-tailed Trigger-fish
Abalistes stellatus
Orange-lined triggerfish
Balistapus undulatus
Rough triggerfish
Canthidermis maculata
Black Triggerfish
Sufflamen chrysopterum
Black durgon
Melichthys niger

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).
2,359 open-data records from 1801 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.