Atlantic trumpetfish

Aulostomus maculatus, the West Atlantic trumpetfish, is a long-bodied fish with an upturned mouth. It often swims vertically while trying to blend with vertical coral, such as sea rods, sea pens, and pipe sponges.

Habitat

Trumpetfish is a largely piscivorous ambush predator which is known to hide among shoals of large herbivorous fish, shadowing the fish until it is close enough to a prey item to strike. It will also hang vertically among gorgonians or drift with the current, capturing any prey that swims underneath it by sucking them into the mouth which has elastic tissues to allow it to open as wide as the diameter of its body. The sudden opening of the mouth creates a vacuum which pulls prey into the mouth. Recorded prey include ocean surgeon (Acanthurus bahianus), blue chromis (Chromis cyanea), tomtate grunt (Haemulon aurolineatum), French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum), longspine squirrelfish (Holocentrus rufus), downy blenny (Labrisomus kalisherae), dusky blenny (Malacoctenus gilli), redlip blenny (Ophioblennius atlanticus), rusty reefgoby (Priolepis hipoliti), spotted goatfish (Pseudupeneus maculatus), reef squirrelfish (Sargocentron coruscum), yellowtip damselfish (Stegastes pictus), and Bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum). Shrimp will also be taken. Stegastes planifrons often aggressively attack trumpetfish but these attacks do not appear to disrupt the trumpetfish's hunting. Normally solitary hunters, trumpetfish frequently associate with schools of striped parrotfish (Scarus iseri) to avoid attacks from S. planifrons and in these circumstances they have higher feeding rates than solitary fish.

Distribution

Aulostomus maculatus is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Brazil including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the most southerly records may actually be of the related species, Aulostomus strigosus.