Chinese Trumpetfish Aulostomus chinensis

Trumpetfish are 3 species of elongated fish with long, broad snouts inhabiting tropical and subtropical reefs. They are related to seahorses, pipefish and cornetfish. They grow to nearly a metre long, are solitary, diurnal and eat small fish and shrimp by ambushing and sucking them up their snout. They have a barbel on the lower jaw and dorsal and anal fins near the tail.

The Chinese Trumpetfish is native to reefs of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its basic colour varies from bright yellow, dull orange, grey, brown or green, both plain and mottled or striped. Like seahorses, they can change colour for camouflage. There are two black "eye" spots on the tail to confuse predators. It grows typically to some 80cm.

Trumpetfish sometimes camouflage themselves from prey by hiding vertically in coral or seagrass or by shadowing larger fish or shoals. The Western Atlantic Trumpetfish A. maculatus of the Americas, one of two native to the Atlantic, the other being the (Eastern) Atlantic, has similar colours and patterns.