Main identification features
- head and body: many short, immovable spines
- fins without spots
- tail base without spines
Slender body; eyes large; nasal organ a short tentacle with 2 openings, teeth in each jaw fused into a beak, without central groove separating two halves; gill opening a short slit before pectoral base; dorsal and anal fins rounded, at rear of body; no pelvic fins; body and head covered with numerous short fixed spines; ~15 spines between snout and dorsal fin; no spines on tail base; dorsal fin high and round, 12-13 rays; anal 10-12 rays; pectoral angular, 20-22 rays; pelagic juveniles with fleshy tentacle at base of each spine.
Dark brown to grey-brown above, shading to white below; base of each spine on back in white spot, on sides in a yellow spot, on belly in a black spot, spots ~pupil size; spines yellow; fins dusky, without spots; pelagic juveniles with eye-size black spots scattered over body.
Size 41 cm.
Habitat: reefs, algal beds, sand; possibly nocturnal.
Depth 5-90 m.
Indo-Pacific; vagrant in the Galapagos.
Attributes
Abundance: Common.
Cites: Not listed.
Climate Zone: Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo).
Depth Range Max: 90 m.
Depth Range Min: 5 m.
Diet: sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins; mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves; mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs).
Eastern Pacific Range: Northern limit=2; Southern limit=-2; Western limit=-93; Eastern limit=-90; Latitudinal range=4; Longitudinal range=3.
Egg Type: Pelagic; Pelagic larva.
Feeding Group: Carnivore.
FishBase Habitat: Reef Associated.
Global Endemism: Indo-Pacific only (Indian + Pacific Oceans); TEP non-endemic; West + East Pacific (but not Central); "Transpacific" (East + Central &/or West Pacific); All species.
Habitat: Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom); Sand & gravel; Rocks; Soft bottom (mud, sand,gravel, beach, estuary & mangrove); Reef (rock &/or coral); Reef and soft bottom.
Inshore Offshore: Inshore; Inshore Only.
IUCN Red List: Not evaluated / Listed.
Length Max: 41 cm.
Regional Endemism: Island (s) only; Island (s); Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic; Eastern Pacific non-endemic; All species.
Residency: Vagrant.
Salinity: Marine; Marine Only.
Water Column Position: Bottom; Bottom only;
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- Grove , J.S. and Lavenberg, R. J., 1997., The fishes of the Galápagos islands., Stanford University Press:863 pp.
- Humann, P., 1993., Reef Fish Identification: Galapagos., New World Publishing:192pp.
- Leis , J. M. and Randall, J. E., 1982., Chilomycterus spilostylus, a new species of Indo-Pacific burrfish (Pisces, Tetraodontiformes, Diodontidae)., Records of the Australian Museum, 34:363-371.
- McCosker , J.E. and Humann, P.H., 1996., New records of Galápagos fishes., Charles Darwin Foundation, Noticias de Galápagos., 56:18-26.
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