Boxfish
box_fish
Smooth Trunkfish
Lactophrys triqueter
About
The smooth trunkfish is a slow, boxy reef fish encased in a rigid shell of fused plates instead of ordinary scales. It grows to about 20 cm long, occasionally reaching 47 cm.
- Length
- 20 cm · max 47 cm
- Depth
- up to 50 m
How to tell it apart
Its boxy shape and honeycomb spot pattern set it apart from other reef fish, but it can still be mixed up with related trunkfish and boxfish. The tight, small white spots covering the body are the mark to check; other boxfish tend to show larger or more scattered markings.
Appearance
Seen head-on, its body forms a triangle, narrow on top and wide at the base, all wrapped in a hard bony carapace. It has a pointed snout, thick lips around a small mouth, and a brush-shaped tail. The body is dark with small white spots, often packed into a honeycomb pattern across the middle. The snout tip and the area around the pectoral fins are darker with fewer spots, and the fins are yellowish with a dark base and tip. Young fish are dark with large yellow spots instead of the adult honeycomb pattern.
Behaviour
It is usually solitary, though it sometimes moves in small groups. It squirts a jet of water from its lips at the sandy seabed to uncover buried worms, molluscs, small crustaceans, sponges, and other small invertebrates hiding just under the surface, then eats them.
Did you know?
Its species name, triqueter, means "three-angled" in Latin, a direct nod to the triangular cross-section of its body when seen from the front.
Log it in Into the Blue
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