Genus: Canthidermis, Triggerfishes, Triggerfish

CANTHIDERMIS

TRIGGERFISHES

Body oblong, relatively elongated, robust, compressed; cheeks without longitudinal grooves; distinct groove before eye and below nostril; mouth small, opens at the front, with powerful jaws made up of 8 heavy, outer teeth on the upper and lower jaws, teeth uneven in size, notched, center teeth not larger and pointed; gill opening a short slit on side before pectoral base; dorsal and anal fins large, long; III dorsal spines, 1st can be locked erect, 2nd > ½ the size of 1st; most rays of dorsal, anal and pectoral fins branched; tail base compressed, without spines, tubercles or ridges; pelvic fins externally reduced to 4 pairs of large scales encasing end of pelvis; thick leathery skin, with regularly arranged diagonal scale plates; snout without scales; no patch of enlarged scales immediately behind gill opening; lateral line inconspicuous.

A circumtropical genus with 3 species; 1 circumtropical species and 1 W Atlantic species in our region.