Talk:Reef triggerfish

Article Doesn't Make sense
"The triggerfish will wedge itself into small crevices in your body and lock its spine to make it almost impossible to get out."<this doesn't make sense. Whose body does the fish wedge in? I wasn't aware that these fish use my body as a hiding spot. Eclarep 23:56, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Not the state fish of Hawaii
Please see http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/bills/hb1982_.htm which is legislation in the Hawaii House of Representatives to permanently establish the Humuhumu as the state fish. The previous law was only in force for five years. Too bad, it's a cool little fish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by J rath (talk • contribs) 2006-01-28

I have amended the Grammar, deleted the irrelevant comments and generally tidied it up a bit.--Joshua Clarke 03:09, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Pop Culture
I'm not sure, but I believe I remember a certain Top Cat episode in which the humuhumu-nukunuku-apawhatever is mentioned multiple times, and one of the characters (The policeman who is always after the gang) washes up in hawaii and is declared to be a humuhumu. However, I do not have any sort of proof, nor do I have the memory to recall which episode exactly it was...Can anyone help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.187.134.103 (talk • contribs) 2006-08-27


 * I'm sure that amongst all these "mentions" or spoken appearances one with a rendition of the real fish would be the superior "pop culture" reference so why doesn't the article mention the Star Trek The next generation episode Rascals where the Humuhumu is shown as the avatar of the ship's (pre)school computer system (software). Memory-Alpha article: Humuhumunukunukuapua'a--92.50.94.35 (talk) 23:05, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

The longest Hawaiian fish name
The article states that lau-wi-li-wi-li-nu-ku-nu-ku 'oi 'oi is the longest Hawaiian fish name, but I count only 11 syllables in that name, whereas I count 12 syllables in hu-mu-hu-mu-nu-ku-nu-ku-a-pu-a 'a. Even if I count the (') glottal stops as syllables, I end up with a tie:  13 syllables for both names. What am I missing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.109.49.230 (talk • contribs) 2007-02-10


 * When I've been in Hawai'i, I have been told by locals that humuhumunukunukuapua'a is the longest fish name. =Axlq 06:31, 7 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Maybe to count not syllables but single letters/characters? The first fish has 23 the Humuhumu only 21... voila! Why should the number of syllables count for the length? A syllable can have up to four or five letters which is quite a span and would render the intent of comparison ad absurdum.--92.50.94.35 (talk) 22:57, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Picture and title are wrong
This past week while snorkeling at the Big Island of Hawai'i, I was attacked by a humuhumunukunukuapua'a (apparently I hung around too long near its mate, so it repeatedly charged at me and bit me until I left). The coloration of the fish wasn't anything like the picture in this article. It looked like this picture — which identifies the fish I saw as humuhumunukunukuapua'a, as well as did the fish guide sheet I had in Hawai'i, and also a local to whom I described the attack. Apparently this fish exists elsewhere in the Pacific, such as this picture from American Samoa.

The common English name appears to be "lagoon triggerfish", so the title of the article may be wrong too.

The picture used in this article looks like a reef triggerfish of some sort, but it sure isn't what I saw. The picture should be corrected, the article title should be changed to Lagoon triggerfish, and the aggressive behavior I observed should be mentioned if a source can be found (it's common local knowledge). =Axlq 06:31, 7 July 2007 (UTC)


 * The fish you linked to is known as the Picasso triggerfish. The first link you offered should be compared to a link to the rectangular triggerfish on the same site. So it looks like the author confused the names. This article is about the Rectangular triggerfish. They are different species.  BTW, where did you go snorkeling on the Big Island? &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 03:18, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * To avoid any further confusion, I've redirected Rectangular triggerfish to this page, and Lagoon triggerfish to Picasso triggerfish. If it wasn't for your fish attack, we would never have done this.  Good work! &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 03:31, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm partly mistaken. See below. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 06:13, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * And you were partly right: the fish that attacked you was a Lagoon triggerfish. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 06:25, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Source of my confusion
Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I found the source of my confusion.

My wife just found the fish reference card we got from Snorkel Bob's. The card refers to it both as a Picasso triggerfish and a humuhumunukunukuapua'a — but the fish resembles (not matches) the reef triggerfish in this article, and it has slightly different coloration, nose shape, and body shape from the fish shown in the picasso triggerfish article.

Does the name humuhumunukunukuapua'a apply to differnt kinds of triggerfish? Perhaps the Picasso triggerfish has variations in shape and coloring? Is the Hawaiian name on the card correct? If so, should that name be used in the reef triggerfish article?

We were on the Big Island for 7 days, returned home 4 July 2007. I was getting my wife to enjoy snorkeling, but she can't swim well, so I was holding on to her. When her mask filled with water, I guided her to a place shallow enough to stand up so we could empty it out. While standing there, I felt a nip on my leg but thought nothing of it — until I felt another. I stuck my head in the water and saw a little blue-trimmed fish with yellow lips charging me. Had the fish attacked my wife, that would have been the end of me teaching her to enjoy snorkeling! ...So I kept shooing it away with a flipper, but the fish was relentless and persistent. It wouldn't shoo away, it just deftly avoided my flipper. The moment my wife got her mask on I rushed her away. Fortunately, only I got bit, not her. Good thing they don't have teeth that break the skin! =Axlq 04:59, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Yep, you caught this before I did. Indeed, Picasso triggerfish should redirect here. I just looked at John P. Hoover's popular Hawaii's Fishes : A Guide for Snorkelers, Divers, and Aquarists   at the book store, and on p. 137 it lists "Picasso triggerfish" as an alternate name for the "Reef triggerfish", and the Lagoon triggerfish is the aculeatus.  They are both known as "Humuhumu" but it is the Reef triggerfish that is the state fish. I hope this clears things up, but I suspect there may be further problems so more research is needed.  I'll adjust the redirects for now. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 05:17, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, after further research, I redirected Picasso triggerfish to Rhinecanthus assasi (Arabian Picassofish) and placed a dab header on that page. It looks like Lagoon triggerfish should be renamed Blackbar triggerfish, but I need to submit a RfM due to previous page moves made by other editors. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 08:42, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * According to Dr. John E. Randall's "Shore Fishes of Hawai'i", the Lagoon Triggerfish is Rhinecanthus aculeatus (Linnaeus, 1758) and the Reef Triggerfish is Rhinecanthus rectangulus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801). Both are called humuhumu nukunuku apua'a in Hawai'ian. Mnudelman (talk) 01:35, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Relevance?
What’s with all the focus on Hawaiian names, culture and state fish argument? What relevance does this have for a species found from the Red Sea to South Africa, throughout the Indian Ocean, and tropical and subtropical Pacific from Australia and southern Japan to the Marquesas and Hawaii? Where is the distribution section? If a Hawaiian name is important, why not all the other Indo-Pacific languages and cultures? I could add a couple of dozen local names... This article is completely off balance and needs serious revision to inform about the fish, and not Hawaiian culture. Ptilinopus (talk) 12:32, 24 January 2019 (UTC)