i have a bad tummy ache and i can't sleep so i did some googling.. 

"Why the aggressive behaviour, one might wonder? Hard to say. While some triggerfish are merely reacting to what they perceive as threats to their nesting grounds - definitely a lesson for divers to respect the habitat of these fish - others seem to do so for the fun of it. This much is clear - titan triggerfish are extremely territorial by nature. The male stands guard over its nest and will charge at any divers or fish that cross into its territory (the zone in a full circle directly above its nest.

Bites should be taken seriously as they are ciguatoxic. Ciguatoxin is a natural poison which is found on some tropical reefs. It infects fish which feed on marine algae. While harmless to the fish, even small amounts can have a harmful effect on humans. In cases of extreme poisoning, it may cause heart attacks, paralysis or death."

(source:http://www.dive-the-world.com/creatures-titan-triggerfish.htm)


some info on ciguatoxic:

"Originally, ciguatoxin was linked to poison passed to tropical fish through consumption. However, the exact source of the toxin was unknown, and many sources were identified as the culprit. Some of these included the manchineel fruit, cocculus berries, palolo worms, compounds containing copper, pumice, and corallina opuntia.

In Northern Australia, where ciguatera is a common problem, two different methods are widely believed to be available for determining that fish harbors significant levels of ciguatoxin. The first method is that if a piece of fish is contaminated with the toxin, flies will not land on it. The second is that the toxin can be detected by feeding a piece of fish to a cat, as cats are allegedly highly sensitive to ciguatoxin and will display symptoms. It is not known whether there is any veracity to either belief."

symptoms:

"Hallmark symptoms of ciguatera include gastrointestinal and neurological effects.Gastrointestinal symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea usually followed by neurological symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches, paresthesia, numbness, ataxia, and hallucinations. Severe cases of ciguatera can also result in cold allodynia, which is a burning sensation on contact with cold (commonly incorrectly referred to as reversal of hot/cold temperature sensation).Doctors are often at a loss to explain these symptoms and ciguatera poisoning is frequently misdiagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis.

Dyspareunia and other ciguatera symptoms have developed in otherwise-healthy males and females following sexual intercourse with partners suffering ciguatera poisoning, signifying that the toxin that produces ciguatera poisoning may be sexually transmitted. As diarrhea and facial rashes have been reported in breastfed infants of mothers with ciguatera poisoning, it is likely that ciguatera toxins are also transferred into the breast milk.

The symptoms can last from weeks to years, and in extreme cases as long as 20 years, often leading to long term disability. Most people do recover slowly over time.Often patients recover but redevelop symptoms in the future. Such relapses can be triggered by consumption of nuts, alcohol, fish or fish-containing products, chicken or eggs, or by exposure to fumes such as those of bleach and other chemicals. Exercise is also a possible trigger."

treatment:

"There is no effective treatment or antidote for ciguatera poisoning. The mainstay of treatment is supportive care. "

more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciguatera

can't slp either...thanx tulip 4d info  ...nywy im not realy quite sure bout d ciguatoxic part..i mean wikipedia in their website stated dat, but i hav nt yet come across any scientific journal which supports dat. but i do hav other questions additional 2 dos abov dat i nid answerg...

Gladstone, W. (1992) reported a direct observation he hd made on d titan triggerfish, whereby a lone Balistoides viridescens ws seen attendg an egg mass in a gutter at d northern end of Carter Reef (Yonge Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Australia). The eggs were deposited in an egg chamber, but unlike other species of triggerfish, the nest ws not surrounded by a crater-like nest. D nests were also described as depressions in d sand.

Dis is d only known observation on d reproductive behavior of d titan triggerfish in a scientific report dat i hav discovered so far..

my questions here r,

1. Hd any of u guys came across its nest b4? where? how does it looks like?...
dis is 2 noe whthr d nests characteristics here in d Malaysian waters differ thn dos elsewhr 
 
2. Ws d nest guarded by any individual (titan triggerfish)? Male or female?

3. R there any sightings of d titan triggerfish living in d tekek house reef? if i were to compare these divesites; Tekek house reef, Soyak island, and Rengis island; which divesite hav d most number of titan triggerfish?

Heh, heh,

That old bugger at Vietnamese wreck, Perhentian is definitely the one to look for. But from 3 years experience there, that one usually goes for the DM or Instructor, most of the time. Still got the bite mark on my fins 

Always a good site that one. Make sure to check the tide table before going there. strong current + triggerfish attack = not good experience   

by d way..dis is wat i'v gathered so far...feel free 2 add on dis

To date there are only a few studies done on the titan triggerfish. The only report on  B. viridescens regarding its reproductive behavior was by Gladstone (1994).  He observed a solitary titan triggerfish tending an egg mass in a gutter at the northern end of Carter Reef. Eggs were deposited in an egg chamber but it was not surrounded by a crater-like nest. The B. viridescens or the titan triggerfish can grow up to 75cm in length (30 inches) (Randall et al . 1990). This makes it the largest of the triggerfish species. B. viridescens is not a pelagic fish and usually can be found living on the reef-flats. Their range includes reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. The titan triggerfish forage on shellfish, urchins, crustaceans and corals. Their foraging habits include turning over rocks, stirring up the sand and biting off pieces of branching coral. Hence, they are referred as workers of the reef. They create feeding opportunities for the smaller fishes.. This is why one often sees other smaller fish species surrounding the abandon foraging sites to feed on the leftovers.

In the local scene this triggerfish plays an important role where it acts as a control on the outbreak of the Diadema sea urchins in the waters of Tioman. The sea urchins were found to constitute as one of B. viridescens diet (MeClanahan & Shafir 1990;  MeClanahan, 1999 and 2000). This predator-prey relationship will help to manage the island’s water where it is a common phenomena to see infestations of urchins on the reefs there. The infestations were said were due to impacts of fish-feeding by tourists and mass algal growth (Kee et al. 2006). The increase in the abundance of the sea-urchins will only contribute to the ever-increasing reef erosion. This will subsequently cause the reef systems to destabilize as the coral heads are moreover susceptible to the crashes of waves. The knocked down corals head will cause the new coral recruits failure to establish and regrowth (Vo & Hodgson, 1997). Another example of a predator-prey relationship is the relationship between the triggerfish and the Drupela snails. This relationship is important in minimizing the damages of the coral reefs. The triggerfish have been reported to feed on Drupela snails which predated on the coral reefs. Thus the triggerfish are  important in stabilizing and controlling the health of coral reef in Tioman Island.

Triggerfish are demersal spawners in which they were observed to generally produce, care and develop their eggs in a relatively long period. However, the triggerfish were observed to produce their large numbers of small eggs and care for their developing ones in a rather short time (Fricke 1980, Lobel & Johannes 1980, Barlow 1981). The spawning period up to the hatching period lasts for one day. This is in between early sunrise until sunset. There are also exceptions whereby it could be extended up until 2 days for certain species of triggerfish. Fricke 1980, Kawase & Nakazono 1994a, Ishihara & Kuwamura 1996, Kuwamura 1997 reported that the period from fertilization to hatching for most balistids were 12–15 hour. This short embryonic development is a strategy to terminate parental care within a day which seems to be adaptive to the tropical environment with high and constant water temperatures (Kawase,  2002). For example, Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus which adopt the lek-like spawning system at Yonge Reef, Great Barrier Reef were seen with embryos developing in a day’s period (Gladstone, 1993). This was similarly observed in Palau, Western Caroline Islands (Lobel & Johannes 1980). A pair of Sufflamen chrysopterus was seen to spawn near sunrise with only females taking care of the demersal eggs. The hatchings of the eggs happened around sunset of the same day (Ishihara &  Kuwamura. 1996). In a separate experimentation, the collected embryos from Balistapus undulates that were kept in aerated seawater were observed to hatched into free-swimming and active individuals at the night of the spawning day (Lobel & Johannes, 1980). Pseudobalistes fuscus, Sufflamen chrysopterus, S. verres and Rhinecanthus aculeatus males were believed to have large territories comprised of several female territories. The females care for the eggs and accelerate hatching after sunset on the spawning day (Fricke 1980, Thresher 1984, Kawase & Nakazono 1994a, Ishihara & Kuwamura 1996, Kuwamura 1997, Kawase 2003).

JD : dat seems 2b d idea  ...but im stil clueless as ever