Buffalo Trunkfish
Lactophrys trigonus
Boxfish
box_fish
About
Boxfish are reef fish with a hard, box-shaped body armour instead of a normal flexible body. In this app the group includes the yellow boxfish, the whitespotted boxfish, and the longhorn cowfish.
How to tell it apart
Look for a slow, boxy or triangular-shaped fish with a hard shell and a honeycomb pattern on the skin, swimming with a rowing motion of its fins rather than bending its body. This rigid, armoured shape is the clearest sign of the group. Members are told apart by body colour and pattern, and by horn-like spines on the head or belly in some species.
Appearance
Boxfish have a hard, box- or triangle-shaped shell made of fused hexagonal plates, with only the fins, tail, eyes, and mouth sticking out. The skin often shows a honeycomb pattern and comes in many colours. Young boxfish are more rounded and often more brightly coloured than adults.
Habitat
Boxfish live in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, mostly at middle latitudes.
Behaviour
Boxfish move slowly because of their heavy armour, but few fish can eat the adults. When stressed, some species release a toxic mucus from their skin that can harm nearby fish.
Did you know?
Because a hard shell cannot bend, boxfish swim only by rowing their fins back and forth, and when stressed some species can release a poison from their own skin into the surrounding water.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
