Species: Balistes vetula, Queen triggerfish

Balistes vetula Linnaeus, 1758

Queen 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 and 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), + 29-31; anal rays 27-28; anterior rays of second dorsal and anal fins distinctly longer than posterior rays, those of 2nd dorsal long and pointed;  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.