Boxfish
box_fish
Buffalo Trunkfish
Lactophrys trigonus
About
The buffalo trunkfish is a bulky, armour-plated boxfish that grows to 30 cm and sometimes far larger, up to 55 cm and over 3 kg.
Also known as: trunkfish
- Length
- 30 cm · max 55 cm
- Weight
- max 3.3 kg
- Depth
- up to 50 m
How to tell it apart
Other boxfish have a squarer, box-like shell, but this species is built more like a triangle in cross-section, a shape best seen by looking at it head-on.
Appearance
Its rigid shell is scattered with small, faint white spots. Two patches of dark-edged hexagonal plates, one near the pectoral fins and one further back on the body, form chain-like markings across the shell.
Habitat
This fish lives over coral rubble, seagrass beds, and offshore reefs in the western Atlantic, from depths of about 2 to 50 m. It feeds on the bottom, picking through invertebrates and seagrass.
Did you know?
As this fish grows large, its white spots and chain-like markings fade, replaced by an irregular dark, net-like pattern spread across the whole shell.
Log it in Into the Blue
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