Species: Rhinecanthus verrucosus, Black-patch triggerfish, Blackbelly triggerfish

Rhinecanthus verrucosus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Blackbelly triggerfish, Black-patch triggerfish

Body oblong, robust, compressed; top and bottom head profiles nearly straight; cheek normally scaled, without longitudinal grooves; no groove before eye and below nostril; a small mouth that opens at the front, with powerful jaws made up of 8 heavy, outer teeth on the upper and lower jaws, teeth notched, uneven in size; gill opening a short slit on side before pectoral base; dorsal fin III (1st  can be locked erect, 2nd  > ½ the size of 1st, 3rd minute, barely visible), 23-26; anal fin 21-23;  soft dorsal and anal of uniform height, not higher at front; most rays of dorsal, anal and pectoral fins branched; pectoral 13-14; tail base  and rear body with 3 rows of small, forward-pointing spines, top row short, on peduncle only; tail rounded to W shaped; pelvic fins externally reduced to 4 pairs of large scales encasing end of pelvis; thick leathery skin, with regularly arranged diagonal scale plates; no group of large, partly separated bony scales immediately behind gill opening; lateral line inconspicuous.

Pale brown above, white below; lower rear of body with a large black to dark brown blotch; head with a black bar across eyes and down cheek, that with blue lines between eyes and blue edges; a thin orange stripe from mouth to lower rear of head; top lip in blue area; tail base with black spines; tail fin clear, with red-brown upper and lower borders.

Reaches 23 cm

Habitat: Subtidal reef flats, often in silty areas.

Depth range 0-50 m.

Indo-west Pacific; introduced to southeast Florida.