Orange-dotted Tuskfish

Fascinating facts about the Orange-dotted Tuskfish

• Spanning from Sri Lanka to French Polynesia, the orange-dotted tuskfish roams an Indo-Pacific corridor that also reaches north to the Ryukyu Islands and south to New Caledonia, showing just how far a single reef fish can spread across the ocean.
• It patrols coral reefs from just a meter below the surface down to 25 m (about 82 ft), a depth range that lets it exploit both shallow nursery zones and deeper feeding ledges.
• At maturity the fish can grow to 50 cm (20 in) long – roughly the length of a standard school ruler laid flat on a reef.
• In the first episode of BBC’s Blue Planet II, a female named Percy was caught hauling a clam to a hard-coral “castle” and hammering it against a precise spot to crack it open, a behavior also noted in Palau and among related wrasses, suggesting the species may use tools to get food.
• Beyond the wild, orange-dotted tuskfish are harvested for markets in China and traded for home aquariums, linking their vibrant reef life directly to human cuisine and hobbyists.

At a glance

About the Orange-dotted Tuskfish

The orange-dotted tuskfish (Choerodon anchorago) reaches up to 50 cm (20 in) and is found from Sri Lanka east to French Polynesia, north to the Ryukyu Islands and south to New Caledonia, inhabiting reefs at depths of 1 to 25 m (3.3–82.0 ft). Individuals such as “Percy”, shown in the first episode of BBC’s Blue Planet II, have been observed transporting clams to a specific coral “castle” and striking them against a hard patch to break the shells, a behavior also documented in Palau and in related tuskfish, suggesting possible tool use. The species is commercially important, appearing in markets in China, and is also present in the aquarium trade.

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