Porcupinefish

Diodon holocanthus

The porcupine fish ( diodontidae ( Gr. " di " = two, " odont " = tooth ) are a family in the order of the pufferfish relatives ( Tetraodontiformes ).

Porcupine fish live off the coasts in shallow tropical and subtropical oceans. There they inhabit the coral reefs. Some of the 20 species also occur in the open sea, where they sometimes gather in large groups. When swimming slowly move continues.

They have like the puffer fish spines on the body, but they are much larger and stronger. These lie in the genera Diodon and Atinga the body closely. In the genus Chilomycterus they are fixed on the body. The spines arose from bone plates. In case of danger, they pump themselves up with water so that the spines on the body straighten up. In this defensive attitude they are verschlingbar only by a few large fish. In humans, it can lead to malignant inflammation when they are injured by the spines.

In the upper and lower jaws are toothed plates that are fused in the middle of the upper and lower jaws to each other. They feed primarily on small crustaceans, which they sent by vigorous " blowing " expose in the seabed. With the dental plates and a scary powerful jaw muscles they crack the shells to eat the edible contents.

System

  • Allomycterus Allomycterus pilatus Whitley, 1931
  • Allomycterus whiteleyi Phillipps, 1932
  • Pacific Igelfisch ( Chilomycterus affinis ) Günther, 1870
  • Rein Igelfisch ( Chilomycterus antennatus ) ( Cuvier, 1816)
  • Chilomycterus antillarum Jordan & Rutter, 1897
  • Brown back Igelfisch ( Chilomycterus atringa ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Chilomycterus geometricus ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
  • Gray Igelfisch ( Chilomycterus reticulatus ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Chilomycterus schoepfii ( Walbaum, 1792)
  • Chilomycterus spinosus mauretanicus (Le Danois, 1954)
  • Chilomycterus spinosus spinosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Cyclichthys hardenbergi ( de Beaufort, 1939)
  • Short spiked porcupine fish ( Cyclichthys orbicularis) ( Bloch, 1785 )
  • Yellow Patch Igelfisch ( Cyclichthys spilostylus ) ( Leis & Randall, 1982)
  • Dicotylichthys punctulatus Kaup, 1855
  • Diodon eydouxii Brisout de Barneville, 1846
  • Brown spots Hedgehog (Diodon holocanthus ) Linnaeus, 1758
  • Spotted porcupine fish ( Diodon hystrix ) Linnaeus, 1758
  • Mask porcupine fish ( Diodon liturosus ) Shaw, 1804
  • Longspine - porcupine fish ( Diodon nicthemerus ) Cuvier, 1818
  • Mimicry Igelfisch ( Lophodiodon calori ) ( Bianconi, 1854)
  • Tragulichthys jaculiferus ( Cuvier, 1818)

Endangering

Porcupine fish are very vulnerable as they are caught for tourism purposes in large numbers. The dead animals are prepared and sold in the inflated state. With this acquisition, many local fishermen make more money than with the fishing industry in the tourist countries.

Acanthomorpha Spotbase burrfish Spotted Porcupinefish Long-spine porcupinefish Joseph S. Nelson FishBase
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