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titan triggerfish

Balistoides viridescens (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Photo of Titan Triggerfish uploaded from iNaturalist.

Photo of Titan Triggerfish uploaded from iNaturalist.

(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The titan triggerfish, giant triggerfish or moustache triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens) is a large species of triggerfish found in lagoons and at reefs to depths of 50 m (160 ft) in most of the Indo-Pacific, though it is absent from Hawaii. With a length of up to 75 centimetres (30 in), it is the largest species of triggerfish in its range (the stone triggerfish, Pseudobalistes naufragium, from the east Pacific is larger).

Wikipedia contributors, Titan triggerfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:49:55.550186+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Balistoides viridescens (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Name authority
(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Common name
titan triggerfish
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Tetraodontiformes
Family
Balistidae
Genus
Balistoides
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. gigaclassActinopterygii
  8. superclassActinopteri
  9. classTeleostei
  10. orderTetraodontiformes
  11. suborderBalistoidei
  12. familyBalistidae Rafinesque, 1810
  13. genusBalistoides Fraser-Brunner, 1935
  14. speciesBalistoides viridescens (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Balistoides. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
clown triggerfishBalistoides conspicillum (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)BalistidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 28 records assigned to Balistidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Pachynathus nigromarginatus Tanaka, 1908 Tanaka, 1908synonym
Balistapus viridescens (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)synonym
Balistes nigromarginatus (Tanaka, 1908) (Tanaka, 1908)synonym
Balistes viridescens Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym
Balistoides veridescens (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)synonym
Pseudobalistes viridescens (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)synonym
Balistes brasiliensis Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219875 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:KH7S. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.