/ FishRed Sea life
Chinese trumpetfish
Aulostomus chinensis
Hangs vertically, head down, pretending to be a piece of coral.
- How often
- Occasional
- Group
- Fish
- Visible while snorkelling
- Visible while snorkelling
Long, thin and rigid, up to eighty centimetres, with a tube of a snout that opens into a mouth wider than its own body to inhale prey whole. Its whole hunting method is deception: hanging motionless and vertical among soft coral branches until something swims close.
It also shadows larger fish, swimming pressed alongside a parrotfish or a grouper to get near prey that would flee from a trumpetfish alone.
Which species do you want to see?
Tell us the species and the date · the captain plans the boat around the conditions.