The reef triggerfish, also known as the rectangular triggerfish, wedgetail triggerfish, or by its Hawaiian namehumuhumunukunukuāpuaa, also spelledhumuhumunukunukuapua'a or just humuhumu for short, is one of several species of triggerfish. It is found at reefs in the Indo-Pacific and is the state fish of Hawaii. The name humuhumunukunukuāpuaa serves for both singular and plural descriptions. The fish shares its Hawaiian name with the lagoon triggerfish, another fish also found in the Indo-Pacific.
Description
The triggerfish's teeth and top lip are blue and the teeth are set close together inside its relatively plump mouth. The fish has a small second dorsal spine, which it can use to lock its main spine into an upright position. This is why it’s called a triggerfish. Humans can push the main dorsal spine, but it remains locked until you manually press the smaller spine, making a popping sound and feeling, thus acting as a “trigger”. Locking its spine while sheltering inside a small crevice helps protect the fish against being extracted by a predator. When fleeing from predators, the triggerfish will sometimes make grunting noises, possibly a call to warn other nearby triggerfish of danger. The triggerfish can blow jets of water from its mouth, which help the fish find benthic invertebrates that may be buried under the substrate. Triggerfish can often be seen spitting sand from their mouths in order to sift through the material in search of edible detritus or organisms. Reef triggers, up to 30 cm in length, are fairly aggressive and will generally not tolerate conspecific individuals in their general vicinity; thus the fish is often solitary. This is particularly true in captivity. Triggers have the ability to rapidly alter their coloration. They can fade into a relatively drab appearance when sleeping or demonstrating submission, while their coloration is often the most vivid when the fish are healthy and unthreatened by their surroundings. They have also been known to bite and attack swimmers in their area, often around the ankle, sometimes leaving marks.
Hawaii state fish
The reef triggerfish was originally designated the official fish of Hawaii in 1985, but due to an expiration of a Hawaiian state law after five years, it ceased to be the state fish in 1990. On April 17, 2006, bill HB1982 was presented to the Governor of Hawaii, which permanently reinstated the reef triggerfish as the state fish of Hawaii. The bill passed into law on May 2, 2006, and was effective upon its approval. Decades prior to official recognition, humuhumunukunukuāpuaa were considered a symbol of Hawai'i. The song My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii includes the line "...where the humuhumunukunukuāpuaa go swimming by..."
