Species: Chilomycterus reticulatus, Spotfin burrfish
Chilomycterus reticulatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Spotfin burrfish
Body rotund, can be inflated; head wide and blunt; eyes large; nasal organ an open pitted cup (in juveniles a tentacle with 2 openings); teeth fused into a strong, parrot-like beak with two plates that lack a front groove, large, opens widely at front; gill opening a vertical slit before pectoral base; pectorals large; fins without spines; no pelvic fins; dorsal rays 12-14; anal rays 11-14; pectoral rays 19-22; tail fin with 10 rays; body and head covered with relatively few,short (< eye), fixed, 3-rooted spines (4 roots on head) that are triangular and flattened in cross-section, and, in some cases reduced to plates under skin, ~ 8-10 in an approximate row from snout to dorsal fin; top of tail base with 1-2 spines.
Grey on back grading to whitish ventrally; scattered black spots on head and upper body; small dark spots on median fins; also several diffuse, dusky brown bars on head and body; no thin dark lines on body. Juvenile: similar to adult, but with a blue cast to body, body spots larger and sparser, fin spots restricted to fin bases.
Size: grows to about 75 cm; the young lead a pelagic existence until about 20 cm.
Inhabits coral and rocky reefs, but also trawled on soft bottoms.
Depth: 1-141 m.
Circumtropical and with a largely temperate distribution; N Carolina to Brazil.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
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- Reef and soft bottom
- Rocks
- Corals
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
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- Data
- Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Egg Type
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- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Pelagic
- Global Endemism
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- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- All species.
- Circumtropical ( Indian + Pacific + Atlantic Oceans)
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent + Island (s)
- Island (s)
- Extends N + S of GC
- Continent
- Also in Brazil
- GC non-endemic
- Extends North of GC
- Continental primarily
- All species..
- Extends South of GC
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Temperate (>35N)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 75
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 141
