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/The Conscientious Marine Aquarist
Burrfish,
Porcupine Puffers, Family Diodontidae
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By Bob Fenner |
Diodon holacanthus, Bahamas
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Family Diodontidae are the Porcupine or Burrfishes; their inflatable bodies are covered with spines that are may be
either permanently erect or folded down when the animal is non-inflated. There are six
genera, nineteen species in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific. The two genera sold, Diodon
and Chilomycterus all make excellent, if often too large in ultimate
size, aquarium fishes with limitless spunk; much too
nice to be just made into dried hang-up novelties.
Once again, here we'll highlight the most commonly
available species of Diodontids in the aquarium interest.
| Allomycterus pilatus Whitley 1931, the Deepwater
Burrfish. Indo-west Pacific: Australia, Tasmania. To one and a half foot
in length. |
No pic |
| Chilomycterus affinis Gunther 1870, the Pacific
Burrfish. Tropical Pacific in distribution. To a nineteen inches in length
in the wild. Here's a one foot individual at the end of Mexico's Baja. |
No pic |
| Chilomycterus antillarum Jordan & Rutter 1897,
the Web Burrfish. Tropical western Atlantic. To only ten inches in length.
Aquarium photo. Note, this genus' and Cyclichthys body spines are
not retractable. |
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| Chilomycterus atringa (Linnaeus 1758), the Spotted
Burrfish. Western and eastern Atlantic coasts. To two feet in length. |
No pic |
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Chilomycterus reticulatus (Linnaeus 1758), the
Spotfin Burrfish. Found worldwide in tropical seas, but uncommon. Relatively
large, dark spots on body, fins. Erect, triangular, short spines over body. To twenty two
inches in length. Here in the Galapagos.
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Chilomycterus spinosus mauretanicus (Le Danois
1954), the Guinean Burrfish. Eastern Atlantic coast of Africa. To ten inches in
length.
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No pic |
Genus Cyclichthys: Eight species.
Cyclichthys
antennatus (Cuvier 1816), the Bridled Burrfish. Formerly placed in the
genus Chilomycterus. Tropical eastern and western Atlantic coasts.
To twelve inches in length.
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No pic |
| Cyclichthys hardenbergi (de
Beaufort 1939), Hardenburg's Burrfish. Western Pacific, New Guinea to
Australia. To ten inches in length. |
No pic |
Cyclichthys
orbicularis (Bloch 1785), the Birdbeak Burrfish. Indo-west Pacific and
southwest Atlantic (off South Africa). To twelve inches in length.
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Cyclichthys
schoepfi (Walbaum 1792), the Striped Burrfish. Western Atlantic coast,
discontinuous in the west Indies. To ten inches total length. Aquarium
images.
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Cyclichthys
spilostylus (Leis & Randall 1982), the Spotbase Burrfish. Recorded
from the Indo-west Pacific and Galapagos Islands. To thirteen inches.
Formerly placed in the genus Chilomycterus. Red Sea images.
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Genus Dicotylichthys:
Dicotylichthys
punctulatus Kaup 1855, the Three-Barred Porcupinefish. Western coast
of Australia. To sixteen inches overall length.
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No pic |
Genus Diodon:
Diodon
eydouxii Brisout de Barneville 1846, the Pelagic Porcupinefish.
Indo-Pacific. To eleven inches in length.
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No pic |
Diodon
holacanthus Linnaeus 1758, the Long-Spined Porcupinefish.
Circumtropical in distribution. To some eighteen inches in length in the
wild. Can be told apart from the similar D. liturosus by its
longest spines being on top of its head. A comical, hardy addition to a fish-only rough and tumble marine
system. Aquarium, St. Lucia (Caribbean) and Bonaire images.
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Diodon
hystrix Linnaeus 1758, the Spotted Burrfish. Circumtropical in
distribution. To some three feet in length in the wild (not a misprint).
Here are photos of specimens in Hawai'i and the Maldives.
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Diodon
liturosus Shaw 1804, the Black-Blotched Porcupinefish. Indo-Pacific,
but not Hawai'i. To twenty six inches long in the wild. Distinguishable
from D. holacanthus by its longest spines being just above its pectoral
fins. This one off of
Pulau Redang, Malaysia.
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Diodon
nicthemerus Cuvier 1818, the Globe Fish. Indo-Pacific. To twenty four
inches in length.
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No pic |
Lophodion
calori (Bianconi 1854), the four-Bar Porcupinefish. Indo-Pacific. To
twenty four inches in length.
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No pic |
Tragulichthys
jaculiferus (Cuvier 1818), the Longspine Burrfish. Indo-west Pacific.
To a foot in length.
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No pic |
| Easy to avoid with careful observation. Here's a copepod parasite on
the dorsal fin of a burrfish. |
.JPG) |
Bibliography/Further Reading:
Debelius, Helmut. Undated. Pufferfish in
the marine aquarium. Aquarium Digest International #27.
Esterbauer, Hans. 1991. The yellow-spotted Burrfish, Chilomycterus spilostylus. TFH 12/91.
Michael, Scott W. 1997. The puffers; unique in many ways. AFM
8/97.
Nelson, Joseph S. 1994. Fishes of the
World, 3d ed. John Wiley & Sons, NY.
Quinn, John R. 1986. Puffers &
friends; a look at the pros and cons of keeping the popular puffers. TFH 5/86.
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