At Two Fish Divers Bunaken our dive sites are packed with a multitude of tropical reef fish species – we are spoiled for choice! The Clown Triggerfish has some of the most amazing patterns and colours which make them very recognizable against other triggerfish in Bunaken Marine Park. The top half of its body is dark with a patch of yellow with small black freckles and the bottom half has large white spots. The eye has a white/yellow mask covering it and the lips are yellow with a yellow line behind. We see them a lot in Bunaken and they are usually feeding on the walls during the day. They drag large bits of coral away from the reef to find the crustaceans hiding below.
Triggerfish are part of the order Tetradontiformes which means ‘four tooth-bearing’ and they are closely related to the cowfish, filefish, pufferfish and leather-jacket families. Triggerfish are in the Balistidae family group because of the way they move – using the balistiform technique (using their dorsal and anal fin to move). This makes them look like they are flying underwater… which is very cool!
The clown triggerfish is not shy of scuba divers or snorkelers but they will move away if you get too close. They are a little camera shy so it is sometimes hard to get a close-up shot of them. Juveniles are completely covered in the large white spots but are very rarely seen because they are very good at hiding in cracks and caves on the reef.
We spotted this clown triggerfish ‘flying’ over the reef in Bunaken
The clown triggerfish was one of the ‘favourite’ fish we spotted on the PADI Open Water Course in Bunaken with Burak, Floor and Peter. It was so special because its patterns are so unique and different to all the others we saw!! Auli also identified the clown triggerfish on her Fish Identification Adventure Dive that credited towards her PADI Advanced Open Water Course. There were so many that not everyone was identified but the clown triggerfish was very memorable. Petra has visited us again and it was a pleasure showing even more of the beautiful diving in Bunaken. See you next time Petra!!
Sophie finished her Instructor course with Two Fish Divers and then came to Bunaken to do an extra two week internship. After professional level courses like the PADI Divemaster Internship and PADI Instructor, it is a good idea to intern and shadow an experienced instructor to get some more experience in the diving industry. It has been great having her here getting some more experience with us in Bunaken!
At the end of this week we also did a Project Aware Dive Against Debris dive with help from our guides, Divemaster trainees Conny and Dario as well as guests; Auli, Nicolas and Ana. We visited our adopted dive site Muka Kampung and we managed to get a lot of thin fishing line that was tangled on the sloping rubble at the beginning. A large seahorse was spotted by Nicolas which was exciting and we also saw many clown trigger fish along the wall for the remainder of dive!
Would you like to join us for diving or a PADI course at Two Fish Divers Bunaken resort? We’d love to show you our amazing wall dive sites, marine life and, of course, clown triggerfish! For more information, or to make a reservation for diving and staying with us, fill in the form below and we will get right back to you!
