Diodon holocanthus

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Inhabits shallow reefs to open, soft bottoms . Also in areas with rocky substrata . Sometimes forms groups[1]. Juveniles pelagic to about 6-9 cm. Solitary. Feeds on mollusks, sea urchins, hermit crabs, and crabs at night[2]. A relatively poor swimmer [1]. Used in Chinese medicine[3]. Captured at the surface using a hand net [4].

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Adult balloonfishes occur on shallow reefs amongst mangroves and in open bottom areas including seagrass beds and rocky substrates. Swimming closely to the bottom, they are found at depths ranging from 6-35 feet (2-100m) below the surface of the water. May be found at depths of 2 to 100 meters. Usually found at depths of 2 to 35 meters.

Typically found in water with a depth of 0 to -5,500 meters (0 to -18,045 feet).[5]

Biome: Marine .

Biology

Diet

Balloonfish are nocturnal predators , generally hiding in crevices during the day. The teeth are fused together into a single unit , creating a strong , beak-like mouth capable of cracking the shells of snails, sea urchins, and hermit crabs.

Reproduction

The balloonfish has a pelagic, or open-ocean, life stage. Spawning occurs after males slowly push females to the water surface. The eggs are spherical and buoyant , floating in the water. Hatching occurs roughly after four days. The larvae are predominately yellow with scattered red spots. They are well developed with a functional mouth , eyes, and a swim bladder. Larvae less than ten days old are covered with a thin shell . After the first ten days, the shell is lost and the spines begin to develop. The larvae undergo a metamorphosis approximately three weeks after hatching. During this time, all the fins and fin rays are present and the teeth are formed. The red and yellow colors of the larvae do not persist into the juvenile phase and are replaced by the olives and browns, characteristic of adults . Dark spots also appear on the juvenile's underside. Pelagic juveniles are often associated with floating sargassum, and these spots may serve as camouflage from predators such as dolphin that swim below the seaweeds. Juveniles retain spotting until they move inshore and become adults. The juvenile balloonfish does not undergo another metamorphosis to become an adult. All changes now are external and include elongation of the spines and normal body growth.

Behavior

Predators:

Juvenile balloonfish are consumed by many pelagic predatory fishes , most notably tunas and dolphins . Adults fall prey to sharks .

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Atopomycterus bocagei Steindachner • Diodon holacanthus Linnaeus • Diodon hystrix holocanthus Linnaeus • Diodon hystrix Linnaeus • Diodon liturosus Shaw • Diodon maculifer Kaup • Diodon multimaculatus Cuvier • Diodon novemaculatus Cuvier • Diodon novemmaculatus Cuvier • Diodon paraholocanthus Kotthaus • Diodon pilosus Mitchill • Diodon quadrimaculatus Cuvier • Diodon sexmaculatus Cuvier • Paradiodon quadrimaculatus (Cuvier • Trichodiodon pilosus (Mitchill

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 08-Aug-1995

Similar Species

Members of the genus Diodon

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 18 species and subspecies in this genus:

D. antennatus (Bridled Burrfish) · D. atringa (Spotted Burrfish) · D. calori (Four-Bar Porcupinefish) · D. echinatus (Whispy Burrfish) · D. eydouxii (Pelagic Porcupinefish) · D. fuliginosus (Black Burrfish) · D. histrix (Black-Spotted Porcupinefish) · D. holacanthus (Black-Spotted Porcupinefish) · D. holocanthus (Ajargo) · D. hystrix (Ajargo) · D. jaculiferus (Long-Spined Porcupinefish) · D. liturosus (Black Blotched Porcupinefish) · D. nicthemerus (Slender-Spined Porcupine Fish) · D. nycthemerus (Slender-Spined Porcupine Fish) · D. orbicularis (Orbicular Burrfish) · D. reticulatus (Few-Spined Porcupinefish) · D. rivulatus (Striped Burrfish) · D. totara (Longfin Lanternfish)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 295.
• California fish and game. [San Francisco, etc.]: State of California, Resources Agency, Dept. of Fish and Game. url p. 75, p. 75.
• Check list of the fishes and fish-like animals of New South Wales. SydneyRoyal Zoological Society of New South Wales1922 url p. 104.
• Contributions to biology from the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory of the Leland Stanford Jr. University. Stanford University, Calif.: The University, 1895-1904. url p. 491.
• Dean bibliography of fishes. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1971-1973. url p. 303, p. 592, p. 596, p. 700.
• Final environmental impact statement prepared on the proposed Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary. [Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Coastal Zone Management, [1980] url p. 21.
• Fishery bulletin / U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service: url , , , p. 1015, p. 1016, p. 1027, p. 535, p. 536, p. 539, p. 541, p. 544, p. 546, p. 547, p. 548, p. 549, p. 551, p. 554, p. 555, p. 556, p. 557, p. 558, p. 559, p. 560, p. 562, p. 563, p. 564.
• Fishery bulletin. United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, The Service, U.S. Govt Print. Off. url p. 337.
• Fishery circular / U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries. [Washington]: The Bureau, 1931-1939. url , , p. 123, p. 343, p. 353, p. 357, p. 361, p. 364, p. 366, p. 397, p. 419.
• Hawaiian fishes; a handbook of the fishes found among the islands of the central Pacific ocean, by Spencer Wilkie Tinker. .. illustrated by Gordon S. C. Chun and Y. Oda. Honolulu, Hawaii, Tongg publishing company, 1944. url p. 390.
• Marine animals of Baja California: a guide to the common fish and invertebrates / by Daniel W. Gotshall. Los Osos, Calif.: Sea Challengers; c1982. url , p. 74.
• Marine recreational fishery statistics survey. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Resource Statistics Division, 1980- url p. 112.
• NOAA technical report NMFS SSRF. Seattle, Wash.: National Marine Fisheries Service; url p. 33, p. 52.
• Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, url p. 29.
• Pamphlets on forestry. Fish and game. [1900?- url p. 1746.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco, The Academy. url p. 491.
• Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales. url p. 59.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 192, p. 212, p. 31, p. 512, p. 637.
• Records of the South Australian Museum / Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia. Adelaide: Published under the authority of the board of governors and edited by the museum director, 1918- url p. 197.
• Report of the United States Commissioner of Fisheries for the fiscal year. .. with appendixes Washington: G.P.O., 1914- url p. 501.
• Texas conchologist. [Houston, Houston Conchology Society], 1964- url p. 93.
• The Australian zoologist. Sydney, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales url p. 130.
• The fishes of Sinaloa, by David Starr Jordan. .. Palo Alto, Cal., Leland Stanford jr. university, 1895. url p. 491.
• The marine fishes of Panama. by Seth E. Meek and Samuel F. Hildebrand; Wilfred H. Osgood, editor 15 1928 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1928 url p. 829.
• Tulane studies in zoology. 7 1959 New Orleans: Tulane University, 1953-1968. url p. 111.
• Voyage of the 'Albatross' to the Gulf of California in 1911. New York, 1916. url p. 173.

Notes

Contributors

• American Fisheries Society. Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the United states, Canada, and Mexico Sixth Edition. Special Publication 29.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.
• FishBase. Release date: January 5, 2010
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 27, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Canadian Museum of Nature, Canadian Museum of Nature Fish Collection
• FishBase, FishBase DiGIR Provider - Philippine Server
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Atlantic Reference Centre
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Bishop Museum Data
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, CSIRO Marine Data Warehouse
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Canadian Museum of Nature - Fish Collection
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, ECNASAP - East Coast North America Strategic Assessment
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, SeamountsOnline
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity - Fish Collection
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, iziko South African Museum - Fish Collection
• Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate specimens
• Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Ichtyologie
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, MCZ Fish Collection
• National Chemical Laboratory, IndOBIS, Indian Ocean Node of OBIS
• OZCAM
• Provider, Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums
• Royal Ontario Museum, Fish specimens
• Senckenberg, Collection Pisces
• The Swedish Museum of Natural History
• , Fishes
• The Swedish Museum of Natural History
• , Fishes of the Gothenburg Natural History Museum
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM, CNPE/Coleccion Nacional de Peces

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3863490
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-31054
• Fishbase Species ID: 4659
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14379322
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 173392
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 100722

Footnotes

1. Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994). Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p. [back]
2. Leis, J.M. (2001). Diodontidae. Porcupine fishes (burrfishes). p. 3958-3965. In K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Vol. 6. Bony fishes pa ... [back]
3. Tang, W.-C. (1987). Chinese medicinal materials from the sea. Abstracts of Chinese Medicine 1(4):571-600. [back]
4. Norman, J.R. (1939). Fishes. p. 1-116. In John Murray Expedition Scientific Reports. Vol. 7. British Museum of Natural History, London. [back]
5. Mean = -572.620 meters (-1,878.675 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,260.450 based on 453 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.