Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Diodon

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Scientific name
  
Diodon

Higher classification
  
Porcupinefish

Order
  
Tetraodontiformes

Family
  
Diodontidae

Phylum
  
Chordata

Rank
  
Genus

Diodon fishesofaustralianetauImagesImageDiodonnicht

Lower classifications
  
Long‑spine porcupinefish, Spot‑fin porcupinefish, Black‑blotched porcupinefish

Porcupinefishes or balloonfishes, are any of the various species of the genus Diodon, the type genus of Diodontidae.

Contents

Tropical fish identification long spine porcupinefish diodon holocanthus


Distinguishing features

Fish of the genus Diodon have:

Diodon Photographs of porcupinefishes and burrfishes Family Diodontidae

  • two-rooted, movable spines (which are derived from modified scales) distributed over their bodies.
  • beak-like jaws, used to crush their hard-shelled prey (crustaceans and molluscs).

    • Diodon Dr Giuseppe MAZZA Journalist Scientific photographer gt Diodon

    They differ from the swelltoads and burrfishes (genera Cyclichthys and Chilomycterus, respectively), which, in contrast, have fixed, rigid spines.

    Defense mechanisms

    Diodon Diodon

  • Like true pufferfishes of the related family Tetraodontidae, porcupinefishes can inflate themselves. Once inflated, a porcupinefish's erected spines stand perpendicular to the skin, whereupon they then pose a major difficulty to their predators: a large porcupinefish that is fully inflated can choke a shark to death. According to Charles Darwin in The Voyage Of the Beagle (1845), Darwin was told by a Doctor Allen of Forres, UK that the Diodon actually had been found "floating alive and distended, in the stomach of the shark" and had been known to chew its way out of shark bodies after being swallowed, causing the death of its attacker.
  • They may be poisonous, through the accumulation of tetrodotoxin or ciguatera.

    • Fossil

    Diodon Diodon holocanthus Freckled Porcupinefish Discover Life

    Fossils of porcupinefishes are known from Tertiary-aged marine strata. These species are similar to modern species. Fossil species include:

  • Diodon tenuispinus, from the Ypresian-aged Monte Bolca lagerstatte.
  • Diodon scyllai, from middle Miocene-aged Piemonte, Italy.

    • Extant

    There are currently five recognized extant species in this genus:

    Diodon Slenderspined porcupine fish Wikipedia

  • Diodon eydouxii Brisout de Barneville, 1846 (Pelagic porcupinefish)
  • Diodon holocanthus Linnaeus, 1758 (Long-spined porcupinefish)
  • Diodon hystrix Linnaeus, 1758 (Spot-fin porcupinefish)
  • Diodon liturosus G. Shaw, 1804 (Black-blotched porcupinefish)
  • Diodon nicthemerus G. Cuvier, 1818 (Slender-spined porcupinefish)

    • Diodon Diodon Wikiwand

    References

    Diodon Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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