Geeze, that's funny, I don't recall seeing rabbit fish on local fish markets, I've seen trigger, moray, batfish, butterfly, angel of some sort I couldn't remember, lots of wrasse, rock fish of all kinds, but don't recall seeing rabbit fish. Come to think of it, I don't recall see much of tangs either.
Rabbits are an important food fish in many areas and are one of the best eating as well. [ as are tangs]
I lived in a fishing village called Bolinao , Pangasinan for a solid year and we had rabbit on at least 100 days.
Its consumed by the ton and as a food source its take comprises 99.something % . A sliver of a percent goes into the aquarium trade....
They have yearly spawning runs there and I joined in on a 'eco-feel good milking project 'where the roe of footlong rabbitfishes was squeezed out into a tub and then some milt into the same tub. After mixing a bit, the tub was then dumped overboard.
Then, this city based group gutted all the adults [ hundreds of kilos] and sold them privately to seafoodbuyers....keeping all the money for themselves in a project already funding their activity. I remember thinking...even 'the good guys' are corrupt here.
I think this was my first dalliance w/ eco-fraud ...as a young idealistic lad back in '81.
Steve
