Spotted hedgehog fish
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Spotted porcupine fish ( Diodon hystrix ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Diodon hystrix | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The spotted or common porcupine fish ( Diodon hystrix ) occurs circumtropically in both the Indo-Pacific and the tropical and subtropical Atlantic and Mediterranean . In the Indo-Pacific he lives from South Africa , Madagascar , Mauritius and Réunion to Japan , Hawaii , California , Lord Howe Island and Easter Island . In the western Atlantic, its distribution area extends from the coast of Massachusetts over the northern Gulf of Mexico , Bermuda to Brazil . However, it is missing in the Bahamas and in large parts of the Caribbean . In the eastern Atlantic, it is found between 30 degrees north latitude and 23 degrees south latitude. You can also find it in the Red Sea . With the construction of the Suez Canal , the spotted porcupine fish has now also become native to the southeastern Mediterranean.
Way of life
The fish always live near the coast, for example in lagoons and outer reefs , at depths of one to 50 meters. Young fish are pelagic , only from a length of twenty centimeters do they change to the benthic life of the adults.
Spotted porcupine fish are solitary and nocturnal. During the day they hide in caves and crevices or rest in the open water high above the ground. They feed on hard-shelled invertebrates such as snails , clams , sea urchins , crabs and hermit crabs .
features
Spotted porcupine fish are the largest members of their family and grow to be almost a meter long. The body is gray, marbled brown and, like the fins, patterned with many black dots. They usually have their long, sharp spines turned backwards. Only when they inflate do the spines stand up. The tail fin stalk is also spiked. The teeth in the upper and lower jaw have grown together (fused) without a visible transition ( diodon "two tooth", hystrix "porcupine"). They swim partly by means of the recoil of the respiratory water (gill opening narrow), partly by undulations of the broad-based pectoral fins.
Fin formula : dorsal 14–17, anal 14–16, pectoral 16.
literature
- Baensch, Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 6 Non-Perciformes (non-perch-like) . Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-116-X
- Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world . Year Top Special Verlag Hamburg, ISBN 3-86132-112-2
- Dieter Eichler, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish Indo-Pacific . Jahr-Verlag GmbG & Co., ISBN 3-86132-225-0
- Andreas Vilcinskas : Marine animals of the tropics. A guide for divers, snorkelers and aquarists. Over 700 lower animals , fish, reptiles and mammals. Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-07943-0
Web links
- Spotted porcupine fish on Fishbase.org (English)