Long-spine porcupinefish | |
---|---|
Diodon holocanthus at the Audubon Aquarium | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
Family: | Diodontidae |
Genus: | Diodon |
Species: | D. holocanthus
|
Binomial name | |
Diodon holocanthus
Linnaeus, 1758
| |
Distribution of the long-spine porcupinefish |
The long-spine porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus), also known as the freckled porcupinefish, porcupine puffer, and porcupine pufferfish, is a species of marine fish in the family Diodontidae. [2]
The long-spine porcupinefish is pale in color with large black blotches and smaller black spots; these spots becoming fewer in number with age. It has many long, two-rooted depressible spines particularly on its head. The teeth of the two jaws are fused into a parrot-like "beak". Adults may reach 50 cm (20 in) in length. [3] The only other fish with which it might be confused is the black-blotched porcupinefish (Diodon liturosus), but it has much longer spines than that species. [4]
The long-spine porcupine fish is an omnivore that feeds on mollusks, sea urchins, hermit crabs, snails, and crabs during its active phase at night. [5] They use their beak combined with plates on the roof of their mouths to crush their prey such as mollusks and sea urchins that would otherwise be indigestible. [6] [7]
The long-spine porcupinefish has a circumtropical distribution, being found in the tropical zones of major seas and oceans:
They are found over the muddy sea bottom, in estuaries, in lagoons or on coral and rocky reefs around the world in tropical and subtropical seas. [9]
Spawns at the surface at dawn or at dusk in pairs or in groups of males with a single female; the juveniles remain pelagic until they are at least 7 cm (3 in) long. [3] Young and sub-adult fish sometimes occur in groups.
Long-spine porcupinefish | |
---|---|
Diodon holocanthus at the Audubon Aquarium | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
Family: | Diodontidae |
Genus: | Diodon |
Species: | D. holocanthus
|
Binomial name | |
Diodon holocanthus
Linnaeus, 1758
| |
Distribution of the long-spine porcupinefish |
The long-spine porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus), also known as the freckled porcupinefish, porcupine puffer, and porcupine pufferfish, is a species of marine fish in the family Diodontidae. [2]
The long-spine porcupinefish is pale in color with large black blotches and smaller black spots; these spots becoming fewer in number with age. It has many long, two-rooted depressible spines particularly on its head. The teeth of the two jaws are fused into a parrot-like "beak". Adults may reach 50 cm (20 in) in length. [3] The only other fish with which it might be confused is the black-blotched porcupinefish (Diodon liturosus), but it has much longer spines than that species. [4]
The long-spine porcupine fish is an omnivore that feeds on mollusks, sea urchins, hermit crabs, snails, and crabs during its active phase at night. [5] They use their beak combined with plates on the roof of their mouths to crush their prey such as mollusks and sea urchins that would otherwise be indigestible. [6] [7]
The long-spine porcupinefish has a circumtropical distribution, being found in the tropical zones of major seas and oceans:
They are found over the muddy sea bottom, in estuaries, in lagoons or on coral and rocky reefs around the world in tropical and subtropical seas. [9]
Spawns at the surface at dawn or at dusk in pairs or in groups of males with a single female; the juveniles remain pelagic until they are at least 7 cm (3 in) long. [3] Young and sub-adult fish sometimes occur in groups.