Bridle Triggerfish

The bridle triggerfish is a deep-bodied, leathery fish, usually dark brown to olive-grey with a paler curved band running from the mouth across the cheek. Like all triggerfish it can lock its first dorsal spine upright and has strong jaws with sharp incisor-like teeth used to crush hard-shelled prey.

Divers meet it over rocky and coral reefs along the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape coast, where it forages alone near the bottom for urchins, crabs and molluscs. It is generally shy and unaggressive, retreating into holes when approached, but the locking spine and sharp teeth warrant care when handling a landed fish.