The Koh Tao Triggerfish have garnered themselves a reputation as fierce some as any creature of the abyss! If your diving Koh Tao especially at White Rock Green Rock or Hin Wong Pinnacle you may want to keep an eye out for this feisty little beast. The Titan triggerfish, has a fearsome reputation as it packs a mean bite and is more often the reason behind divers and snorkelers sporting teeth marks in their fins, skin, missing ears and the cause of many bruises. While only known to be aggressive and territorial during the reproduction season and when guarding it’s nest, the titan trigger fish often increases a divers anxiety levels around it and mostly, it is well deserved. Almost anyone who has done a fair amount of scuba diving on Koh Tao will have had a run in or two with this species of triggerfish at some point or another.
But fear not. As with all marine life encounters with Triggers are easy to avoid. You see it’s when they are nesting that the Titan trigger get very territorial and will rigorously protect these nests and it does seem that the Triggerfish is more aggressive at some divesites like Green Rock or White rock especially than they are at Chumphon Pinnacle or Japanese Gardens. A prominent sign of trouble to come is when the fish rolls onto its side and with their independently rotating beady eyes, gives you the old evil eye just before they charge at you. Most often you will see its black trigger fin raise in warning of the attack, before it charges and it has the teeth to back it up!
One useful thing to remember is that a triggerfish sees it’s territory (a.k.a the ‘Danger Zone’ you want to avoid being in), starting in a small area around its nest and rising to the surface in the shape of a cone. At Green Rock they’re nest is in the sand adjacent to or within coral. When a titan triggerfish attacks, it will charge at you continuously until you swim out of its territory.
Your best plan of action if you see one is to stay behind your Dive guide who will spray air from their octopus & swim away horizontally as the zone they’re protecting is an upward cone. Most divers make the mistake of swimming upwards to escape the wrath of the crazy fish that’s trying to chew their fins off, but to the triggerfish it appears that you are getting further from leaving their turf, and it will re-double it’s efforts to persuade you. Keep your eyes on the fish at all times as hard as it may be, as they are fast. They have also been observed to go for bright colors so if they come close try and get your dive fins or a hard object like an underwater camera or a dive slate or other Scuba gear between you and the titan, needless to say it’s better to have a hole in your fins rather than your body! It’s important to remember that Titan triggerfish are only defending what they believe are intruders in their territory, and as we are invading their world it’s not right to attack them back with dive knives or harm them in other ways. This will only make them even more weary of divers and attack them more as they are known to exhibit a level of intelligence that is unusual among fishes, and have the ability to learn from previous experiences.
