Balistoides conspicillum (Ballist clown)

This ballist has an incessant activity and develops the decor to its "idea" by moving the blocks of coral between its jaws. His relations with the other residents are rather bad and he does not support the presence of another bay. The ballists are nicknamed "Aubalian fish", due to the presence of an erectile spine, very solid, placed in the first rays of the dorsal fin. It allows them to anchor in an anfracurity and to resist the currents that swept the coral reefs.

The Conspicillum Ballistoides is a fish belonging to the Balistidae family, more commonly known as the fish-fishing. It is also known as the button or fish-fisherman's name due to the shape of its dorsal fin, which looks like a butterfly tail or a parrot tail.

The Conspicillum ballistoides is a large fish, up to around 45 centimeters in length for a weight of about 1.5 kilogram. Its coloring varies depending on age and sex, but it is generally gray-blue with black and white vertical stripes on the body. Its dorsal fin and its pectoral fins are more colorful, with patterns in the shape of a circle or diamond of yellow, red or orange color.

The Conspicillum ballistoides lives in the warm and shallow waters of tropical seas, mainly in Indonesia, in the Philippines and New Guinea. It feeds mainly on small fish, crabs and shrimp, which he hunts using his pectoral fins to dig holes in the sand or corals, where he hides to wait for his prey.

The Conspicillum ballistoides is a lonely and territorial fish, which defends its vital space against the other fish of its species. It is also very protected against predators thanks to its poisonous thorns, located on its dorsal fin and its pectoral fins, which can cause very intense pain to the animals that touch them.

Due to its large size and beauty, the Conspicillum ballistoides is a fish much appreciated by aquarophilia enthusiasts, although its maintenance can be difficult because of its food needs and its territorial behavior. It is also caught for its meat and skin, but this activity is strongly regulated to preserve populations of-and-and-one fish in nature.