porcupine fish

Porcupinefish
Porcupinefish (Diodon nicthemerus) Photo by Mikkel Elbech
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Tetraodontiformes
Family:	Diodontidae
Genera
See text for genera and species.

Porcupinefish are fish of the family Diodontidae, (order Tetraodontiformes), also commonly called blowfish (and, sometimes, "balloonfish" and "globefish").

They are sometimes confused with pufferfish. Porcupinefish are closely related to pufferfishes but porcupinefish have heavier spines (hence the name porcupine) on their body. Also unlike the pufferfishes, they have only a single plate of fused teeth in each of the upper and lower jaws.^[1]

Porcupinefish are medium to large sized fish, and are found in shallow temperate and tropical seas worldwide. A few species are found much further out from shore, where they can occur in large shoals of thousands of individuals. They are generally slow.^[1]

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 internal organs, such as the ovaries and liver. This neurotoxin is at least 1200 times more potent than cyanide, but some scientists believe it is produced by several types of bacteria that are somehow obtained from the fish's diet as fish bred in captivity are not poisonous^[2], while others are skeptical of this theory. As a result porcupinefish have few predators, although adults are sometimes preyed upon by sharks and orcas. Juveniles are also preyed on by tuna and dolphins.^[1]

The UNIX-derived computer operating system OpenBSD uses a porcupine fish as its mascot, named Puffy.

Species

• Genus Allomycterus
  • Deepwater burrfish, Allomycterus pilatus Whitley, 1931
  • Allomycterus whiteleyi Phillipps, 1932
• Genus Chilomycterus (Burrfishes, Spiny Boxfishes)
  • Pacific burrfish, Chilomycterus affinis Gu:nther, 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)
    

    

    Chilomycterus geometricus
• 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, 1758fish
  • 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)

See also

• List of freshwater aquarium fish species

• Media related to Diodontidae at Wikimedia Commons

References

• Balloonfish. Florida Museum of Natural History. Casey Patton. Accessed on June 24, 2005.
• "Diodontidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer 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. Retrieved on 24 June 2005.