Species: Balistes capriscus, Gray Triggerfish

Balistes capriscus Gmelin, 1789

Gray Triggerfish

Body oblong, relatively deep, robust, compressed; cheeks without longitudinal grooves; a distinct groove before eye and below nostril; a small mouth that opens at the front, with powerful jaws with 8 heavy, outer teeth on the upper and lower jaws; side teeth notched, longer and pointed in center; gill opening a short slit on side before pectoral base; dorsal fin III (1st can be locked erect, 2nd > ½ the size of 1st), + 27-28; anal rays 24-26; anterior rays of second dorsal and anal fins distinctly longer than posterior rays; pectoral rays 13-15; most rays of dorsal, anal and pectoral fins branched; tail base compressed, without spines, tubercles or ridges; tail fin doubly concave, with prolonged lobes; pelvic fins externally reduced to 4 pairs of large scales encasing end of pelvis; thick leathery skin, with regularly arranged diagonal scale plates; snout completely scaled; a group of large, partly separated bony scales that form a thick membrane immediately behind gill opening; scales without keels; lateral line inconspicuous.

Grey; blue spots and lines on upper body and fins; 3 indistinct dark blotches or irregular bars on back, those bars strongly developed in juveniles.

Size: attains 63 cm; reaches 15 years.

Inhabits rocky and coral reefs, and nearby sand and seagrass bottoms; juveniles and sometimes adults associate with drifting sargassum.

Depth: 0-110 m.

Occurs in temperate and tropical areas of both the East and West Atlantic; Nova Scotia to Argentina.