Diving with Cornetfishes

Lanta Marine Life | Fistulariidae

There are only 4 species of cornetfish which are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical areas, and only one species usually found on your Lanta diving trips.

Cornetfish have a very long and slightly depressed body, with a long tubular snout. This fish has no scales and a forked tail with a long tail filament formed by two center fin rays. The dorsal and anal fins are quite short and located close to each other.

The long snouts have small teeth, and these fish feed on small fish and crustaceans in open water or among coral reefs.

1 species found on this page:

Bluespotted Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii)

Bluespotted Cornetfish

(Fistularia commersonii)

Fistularia commersonii @ Koh Haa

The bluespotted cornetfish (also called the smooth cornetfish or smooth flutemouth) grows up to 1.6m, but is more commonly around 1m.

This fish is a greenish-grey/silvery colour, with a pale olive back and two blue stripes or lines of dots from it's head to tail base. Dorsal and anal fins are transparent.

This fish has a long, tubular snout, a long tail filament lined with sensory pores, and large eyes which help with detecting prey.

Bluespotted cornetfish usually feed on small fish, crustaceans and squid. The long tubular snout is used to suck in small fishes. They are usually solitary predators, although they sometimes feed near the bottom in small groups.