PORCUPINEFISH

'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.

Contents

Species

See also

References

Species

★ Genus ''Allomycterus''

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★ Deepwater burrfish, ''Allomycterus pilatus'' Whitley, 1931

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★ ''Allomycterus whiteleyi'' Phillipps, 1932

★ Genus ''Chilomycterus'' (Burrfishes, Spiny Boxfishes)

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★ Pacific burrfish, ''Chilomycterus affinis'' Günther, 1870

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★ Bridled burrfish, ''Chilomycterus antennatus'' (Cuvier, 1816)

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★ Web burrfish, ''Chilomycterus antillarum'' Jordan & Rutter, 1897

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★ Spotted burrfish, ''Chilomycterus atringa'' (Linnaeus, 1758)

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★ ''Chilomycterus geometricus'' (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

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★ Spotfin burrfish, ''Chilomycterus reticulatus'' (Linnaeus, 1758)

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★ Striped burrfish, ''Chilomycterus schoepfii'' (Walbaum, 1792)

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★ Guinean burrfish, ''Chilomycterus spinosus mauretanicus'' (Le Danois, 1954)

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★ ''Chilomycterus spinosus spinosus'' (Linnaeus, 1758)

★ Genus ''Cyclichthys'' (Swelltoads)

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★ Hardenburg's burrfish, ''Cyclichthys hardenbergi'' (de Beaufort, 1939)

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★ Birdbeak burrfish, ''Cyclichthys orbicularis'' (Bloch, 1785)

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★ Spotbase burrfish, ''Cyclichthys spilostylus'' (Leis & Randall, 1982)

★ Genus ''Dicotylichthys''

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★ Three-barred porcupinefish, ''Dicotylichthys punctulatus'' Kaup, 1855

★ Genus ''Diodon'' (Porcupinefishes)

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★ Pelagic porcupinefish, ''Diodon eydouxii'' Brisout de Barneville, 1846

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★ Long-spine porcupinefish, ''Diodon holocanthus'' Linnaeus, 1758

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★ Spot-fin porcupinefish, ''Diodon hystrix'' Linnaeus, 1758

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★ Black-blotched porcupinefish, ''Diodon liturosus'' Shaw, 1804

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★ Slender-spined porcupine fish, ''Diodon nicthemerus'' Cuvier, 1818

★ Genus ''Lophodiodon''

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★ Four-bar porcupinefish, ''Lophodiodon calori'' (Bianconi, 1854)

★ Genus ''Tragulichthys''

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★ Longspine burrfish, ''Tragulichthys jaculiferus'' (Cuvier, 1818)

See also

★ List of freshwater aquarium fish species

References

★ Balloonfish. Florida Museum of Natural History. Casey Patton. Accessed on June 24, 2005.

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