The black-blotched porcupinefish , also known as shortspine porcupinefish, is a member of the family Diodontidae. It is found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific on coral and rocky reefs and in inshore waters. Other names are the blotched porcupinefish and the brown-backed porcupinefish.
Similar species: Box, Puffer And Trigger Fishes
By Albert Kang
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Uploaded Jun 25, 2020. Captured Aug 6, 2019 15:59.
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The black-blotched porcupinefish (Diodon liturosus) is found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific Ocean. They eat gastropods, sea urchins, and crustaceans. This fish may look as cute as a puppy, but it’s not a fish that you would want to mess with. When threatened, a porcupinefish can inflate itself. Once inflated, spines stand erect on their skin, which make it nearly impossible for a predator to eat them without either choking to death or getting stabbed. Furthermore, Charles Darwin wrote that he was told that porcupinefish were able to chew their way out of the body of sharks after being swallowed, thus causing the death of its attacker. Plus, these fish have concentrated amounts of a poison, called tetrodotoxin, in their bodies. Tetrodotoxin is a very powerful neurotoxin that is extremely toxic. So, if a predator eats a porcupinefish, the consequences will be dire: it may choke to death, get stabbed to death, die as the fish chews its way through the predator’s body, or die of toxic poisoning. #JungleDragon
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