Starry triggerfish
 | This article needs attention from an expert in Fishes. The specific problem is: Fishbase suggests that A. stellaris and A. stellatus are different species. See the talk page for details. (August 2014) |
| Starry triggerfish | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
| Family: | Balistidae |
| Genus: | Abalistes |
| Species: | A. stellaris
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| Binomial name | |
| Abalistes stellaris (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801)
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The starry triggerfish (Abalistes stellaris), or flat-tailed triggerfish, is a tropical, harmless, oviparous bottom dweller, characterized by some white spots along the spinal dark band. The tail is dorsoventral and looks very thin, when looked upon in profile. There is a deep groove in front of the eye. The background colour is grey with olive green spots. Its mitochondrial DNA has been sequenced by the University of Tokyo, Japan.[1] Male adults grow up to 60 cm.
Taxonomy[edit]
The name of the species was proposed in 2004 to be changed to Abalistes stellatus (Anonymous, 1798).[2] FishBase considers Abalistes stellatus a misapplied name and accepts it as a separate species.[3][4]
Abalistes stellaris was also differentiated from the closely related species Abalistes filamentosus in 2004.[2]
Habitat[edit]
- Indo-West Pacific up to the Red Sea and East Africa
- mud, silty sand bottoms, coral reefs
Diet[edit]
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Benthic animals such as crustaceans, crabs, mollusks; bony fish.
Economic use[edit]
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It is used in aquaculture, as food (fresh or dried), and for leather.
References[edit]
- ^ "Abalistes stellaris (ID 33735) - BioProject - NCBI".
- ^ a b MATSUURA, KEIICHI, & TETSUO YOSHINO, 2004. A new triggerfish of the genus Abalistes (Tetraodontiformes: Balistidae) from the western Pacific. Records of the Australian Museum 56(2): 189–194.
- ^ Fishbase
- ^ "Abalistes stellatus". www.fishbase.se. Retrieved 29 December 2020.