Black Trigger

Melichthys niger. 

ODONUS NIGER.

The Hawaiian Black Triggerfish is a mostly black trigger with some interesting lighter patterns and an orange face. Hawaiian Black Triggers closely resemble their Indian Ocean cousins, but are more colorful. This species tends to have different color combinations from day to day, with blue-green one day, and the next day a purplish blue. Furthermore, their large head area is a slightly lighter color than the rest of its body, and its tail has long filaments on the upper and bottom tailing edges. They also have a unique form of swimming where the anal and dorsal fins are used for most of their movement. When bursts of speed are needed, they use rapid movements of the tail giving them a swimming style not seen by other species throughout the animal kingdom. Definitely an attractive fish, and one of the most popular triggerfish species kept in home aquariums!

Hawaiian Black Triggerfish reach an adult size of around 14 inches and should be kept in tanks that are at least 125 gallons. Hawaiian Black Triggerfish are aggressive fish and shouldn’t be kept in reef tanks. Hawaiian Black Triggers will eat smaller fish and some inverts found in reef systems. Hawaiian Black Triggerfish are best kept in larger FOWLR tanks with aggressive to semi-aggressive tank mates.