Description: A spiny pufferfish or porcupinefish, which can inflate its abdomen when threatened. Body covered with spines, which are more conspicuous when the abdomen is inflated. Brown dorsally, spotted on the dorsal side and fins, with a white ventral surface. Flat back.
Global Distribution: Circumglobal in tropical and subtropical waters. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: FishBase: Maximum length 69.7 cm; common length 30.0 cm (total length).
Canary Islands (Gonzalez et al. 2000): 80 cm.
Behavioural ecology: Solitary. Appears to be active during the day. Known to brace themselves against the substrate to sleep at night.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 20 - 100 m.
Habitat: Reef-associated. Adults found in reefs and over soft bottoms to depths of 100 m, but may occur deeper in the tropics. Juveniles pelagic in oceanic surface waters, often with floating weeds.
Feeding habits: Feeds on hard-shelled invertebrates (mostly sea urchins, bivalve molluscs and crustaceans).
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.5
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Not commercial (captured occasionally for aquaria).
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org (2014).
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
McEachran J.D., Fechhelm J.D. (2006). Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Vol. 2. Scorpaeniformes to Tetraodontiformes. University of Texas Press, Texas, USA, 1008 pp.
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
