Odonus niger
Red tooth triggerfish | Blue Triggerfish | Redfang Triggerfish
Odonus niger, adult, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
Odonus niger, juvenile, Banda, Indonesia, Photo: Joe Shields
Odonus niger, adult, Bali, Indonesia, Photo: Ian Shaw
Similar Species
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Dark blue body with paler blue head, with 2 dark blue lines forward from eye and another behind the mouth, crescent tail with elongated tips. Sometimes seen in large numbers feeding on plankton above the reef, but retreats into cracks when approached.
Information
Max Size: 50 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 22.1-31.4°C
Depth: 5-40 m
Habitat Generalization Index: 3.9
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Not Evaluated
Occurrence: Infrequent (9.3% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Large aggregations (173 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: extract from RD Stuart-Smith, GJ Edgar, AJ Green, IV Shaw. 2015. Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland