New Jersey Scuba Diving

Triggers, Puffers, & Sunfish

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Although it seems unlikely, these fishes are all related in the Order Tetraodontiformes. Common characteristics include:

  • teeth fused into horny beaks
  • tough leathery skin
  • swimming primarily with dorsal and anal fins rather than tail
  • pelvic fins lacking

They are all also possessed of rather higher intelligence than most fishes.

Gray Triggerfish

Gray Triggerfish

Balistes capriscus

A Profile
by Stacey Reap

Range:
The Gray Triggerfish is found on both the eastern and western Atlantic coasts. Along the Atlantic coast of North America, it ranges from Nova Scotia and Bermuda to Argentina, including a presence in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Most of the approximately 40 other species in the Balistes family can be found in tropical seas worldwide.

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Planehead Filefish

Filefish

Stephanlepis hispidus

Size: to 10"

Habitat: wherever the current takes them

Notes: Baby Filefishes of 2"-3" may be found drifting along with clumps of Sargassum weed. They are also found inshore.

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Ocean Sunfish

Ocean Sunfish

Mola mola

Size:
to 10 ft long, 11 ft tall, 4400 lbs,
but usually 4-5 ft long

Habitat:
Open ocean, usually basking near surface. This giant, slow-moving creature flaps along at the surface, propelled by its oar-like dorsal and anal fins and steering with the stump of its tail.

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Puffers, Burrfishes & Trunkfishes

Northern Puffer
Northern Puffer - Sphoeroides maculatus to 14", usually much smaller

Puffers are highly intelligent, traveling in schools, and hunting cooperatively. They prey on anything they can dismember with their powerful parrot-like beaks, including other fishes and crabs. The body is short, fat, and stiff, with a disproportionately large head.

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Strobe Light

strobe light

Day or night, an inexpensive flashing strobe light hanging from the anchor chain will guide you home. At night, it may be the only thing that leads you back to the up-line, and even during the day, it is reassuring to look up and see it blinking in the distance. Under some conditions, it can relieve you of the need to use a wreck reel, something that any spearfisherman would appreciate.

In fact, the more strobe lights there are hanging from the anchor line, the better. The presence of your strobe light signals to other divers that you are still down. Don't get one of the miniature AA-powered models, get a big bright one that you can see from a distance through murky water. The tektite Strobe 300 (pictured) is the biggest and brightest model available, and probably the best for use in our murky waters.

More: Strobe Light ...

Disclaimer:

I make no claim as to the accuracy, validity, or appropriateness of any information found in this website. I will not be responsible for the consequences of any action that is based upon information found here. Scuba diving is an adventure sport, and as always, you alone are responsible for your own safety and well being.

Copyright © 1996-2024 Rich Galiano
unless otherwise noted

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