Boxfish
box_fish
Striped Boxfish
Ostracion solorense
About
The striped boxfish is a small, box-shaped reef fish, with males and females coloured so differently they can look like separate species.
Also known as: solor boxfish, solor box-fish
How to tell it apart
Other reef boxfish can share a similar rigid, boxy shape. Look for the bony bump above the upper lip together with, in males, the wide dark stripe on the upper flank, or, in females, the fine black network covering the body.
Appearance
Males are bluish-grey to blackish, with thin, wavy light blue lines on the back, a wide dark stripe with paler wavy lines on the upper flank, and white spots edged in black along the sides. Females are quite different: yellowish to greenish-brown with a network of black lines over the body. Both sexes have a small bony bump above the upper lip.
Did you know?
Males and females of this boxfish look so different that early divers could mistake them for two separate species. Males wear a bold dark stripe with wavy blue lines, while females are covered in a fine yellowish-green net of black lines.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
