Blackblotched Porcupinefish, Diodon liturosus (Shaw, 1804)

ANIMAL SPECIES:Blackblotched Porcupinefish, Diodon liturosus (Shaw, 1804)

The Blackblotched Porcupinefish occurs in tropical waters and is found on coral reefs, rocky reefs and inshore waters.

Alternative Name/s

It has also been called the Blotched Porcupinefish and Brown-backed Porcupinefish.

Identification

The Blackblotched Porcupinefish has erectile spines on the head and body. Like all members of the family, it can inflate its body with water, and turn itself into a very spiny ball.

The body is brown to grey above shading to white below. There are white-margined dark blotches on the back and sides, and the fins are normally unspotted.

Size range

It grows to about 45 cm in length.

Similar Species

It is similar to the Freckled Porcupinefish, Diodon holocanthus, but the latter has much longer spines, particularly on the head, and the blotch on the top of the head is continuous between the eyes. ,

Distribution

The species is occurs in tropical waters of the Indo-west and Central Pacific, from South Africa, north to Japan, south to Australia and east to the Marshall and Society Islands.

In Australia it is known from the central coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north and south on the east coast to southern New South Wales.

Distribution by collection data

Biomaps map of Blackblotched Porcupinefish specimens in the Australian Museum collection.

What does this mean?

Habitat

It is found on coral and rocky reefs and inshore waters.

Classification

Species:: liturosus
Genus:: Diodon
Family:: Diodontidae
Class:: Actinopterygii
Subphylum:: Vertebrata
Phylum:: Chordata
Kingdom:: Animalia

What does this mean?

References

Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292.
Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. in Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
Leis, J.M. 2006. Nomenclature and distribution of the species of the porcupinefish family Diodontidae (Pisces, Teleostei). Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 63(1): 77-90.
Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.

Last Updated: 17 June 2009

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