Black Triggerfish

About this species

The halfmoon triggerfish is a triggerfish of the tropical Indo-West Pacific area.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Halfmoon triggerfish”, 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: 173 records
February: 232 records
March: 417 records
April: 729 records
May: 541 records
June: 499 records
July: 417 records
August: 280 records
September: 453 records
October: 492 records
November: 199 records
December: 157 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–22 m · Deepest record: 125 m

0–10 m: 910 records
10–20 m: 1,025 records
20–30 m: 300 records
30–40 m: 8 records
40–50 m: 4 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 4 records
22–24 °C: 8 records
24–26 °C: 24 records
26–28 °C: 160 records
28–30 °C: 312 records

Photos

(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) PampaSorro, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dominik Maximilián Ramík, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Michael Bakker Paiva, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Black Triggerfish, Eye-stripe Triggerfish, Flagtail Triggerfish, Goldenfinned Triggerfish, Halfmoon triggerfish, Yellowstreak Triggerfish

Names in 2 more languages

Japanese: Tsumajiromongara, ツマジロモンガラ
Simplified Chinese: 咖啡砲彈, 金鰭鼓氣板機魨, 金鰭鼓氣鱗魨, 黃鰭多棘鱗魨, 黄鳍多棘鳞鲀

Other scientific names: Balistes chrysopterus, Hemibalistes chrysoptera, Hemibalistes chrysopterus, Sufflamen chrysoptera, Sufflamen chrysopterus

Similar species

Boomerang triggerfish
Sufflamen bursa
Bridled Trigger
Sufflamen fraenatum
Flat-tailed Trigger-fish
Abalistes stellatus
Orange-lined triggerfish
Balistapus undulatus
Rough triggerfish
Canthidermis maculata
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).
4,822 open-data records from 1801 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.