Tropical reef fish
Identity card
Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific.
Between 1 and 30 metres deep.
Maximum length: 25.0 cm
Sponges, molluscs, copepods and algae.
It can produce toxic mucus on the body when stressed.
In this species, a neurotoxin produced by bacteria is present in large quantities in the liver, viscera and gonads, but is also found in the skin.
Females are more toxic than males, due to the high concentration of TTX (tetrodotoxin) in their ovaries.
It is found in the Indo-Pacific and eastern Pacific regions: from East Africa to Mexico, north to southern Japan and the Hawaiian Islands, and south to New Caledonia and the Tuamotu Islands.
The spotted boxfish lives in clear lagoons and reefs on the sea side, down to at least 30 metres. Juveniles are found among rocky blocks, often with long-spined sea urchins, and adults on reef ridges and slopes.
The females have black bodies with white spots; the males, which are larger, have blue bodies with black upper bodies, white spots, and a yellow line.
It is these white spots that give it the name guinea fowl chestnut fish.
Its trapezoidal box-shaped body is typical of boxfish. Its rigid body is covered with bony plates.
It is born female and becomes male as it grows.
It is a solitary fish.
There are no specific conservation measures for this species.
The Ocean Mag
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