Porcupinefish
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 Porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus)
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See text for genera and species. |
Porcupinefish are fish of the family Diodontidae, (order Tetraodontiformes), also commonly called blowfish (and, sometimes, "balloonfish" or "globefish").
They are sometimes confused with pufferfish. Porcupinefish are closely related to pufferfishes but porcupinefish have spines on their body.
Porcupinefish have the ability to inflate their body by swallowing water (or air) and become round like a ball. This increase in size (almost double vertically) reduces the range of potential predators to those with much bigger mouths. A second defense mechanism is provided by the sharp spines, which radiate outwards when the fish is inflated. Some species are poisonous, having a tetrodotoxin in their skin and/or intestines. As a result, porcupinefish have few predators: adults are rarely eaten except by sharks and orcas, though juveniles are also preyed on by tuna and dolphins.
[edit] Species
- Genus Allomycterus
- Deepwater burrfish, Allomycterus pilatus Whitley, 1931
- Allomycterus whiteleyi Phillipps, 1932
- Genus Chilomycterus (Burrfishes, Spiny Boxfishes)
- Pacific burrfish, Chilomycterus affinis Günther, 1870
- Bridled burrfish, Chilomycterus antennatus (Cuvier, 1816)
- Web burrfish, Chilomycterus antillarum Jordan & Rutter, 1897
- Spotted burrfish, Chilomycterus atringa (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Chilomycterus geometricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Spotfin burrfish, Chilomycterus reticulatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Striped burrfish, Chilomycterus schoepfii (Walbaum, 1792)
- Guinean burrfish, Chilomycterus spinosus mauretanicus (Le Danois, 1954)
- Chilomycterus spinosus spinosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Genus Cyclichthys (Swelltoads)
- Hardenburg's burrfish, Cyclichthys hardenbergi (de Beaufort, 1939)
- Birdbeak burrfish, Cyclichthys orbicularis (Bloch, 1785)
- Spotbase burrfish, Cyclichthys spilostylus (Leis & Randall, 1982)
- Genus Dicotylichthys
- Three-barred porcupinefish, Dicotylichthys punctulatus Kaup, 1855
- Genus Diodon (Porcupinefishes)
- Pelagic porcupinefish, Diodon eydouxii Brisout de Barneville, 1846
- Long-spine porcupinefish, Diodon holocanthus Linnaeus, 1758
- Spot-fin porcupinefish, Diodon hystrix Linnaeus, 1758
- Black-blotched porcupinefish, Diodon liturosus Shaw, 1804
- Slender-spined porcupine fish, Diodon nicthemerus Cuvier, 1818
- Genus Lophodiodon
- Four-bar porcupinefish, Lophodiodon calori (Bianconi, 1854)
- Genus Tragulichthys
- Longspine burrfish, Tragulichthys jaculiferus (Cuvier, 1818)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Balloonfish. Florida Museum of Natural History. Casey Patton. Accessed on June 24, 2005.
- "Diodontidae". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- "Diodon holocanthus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
- Diodontidae (TSN 173382). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 24 June 2005.
