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Species: Chilomycterus antennatus, Bridled burrfish

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

tentacle over eye
many small black spots: head & body, C of adult
spines few, short, immovable
back: large white-edge black blotches
juv: yellow + black-edged white blotches

Chilomycterus antennatus (Cuvier, 1816)

Bridled burrfish

Body rotund, can be inflated; head wide and blunt; eyes large; a large (eye-sized) tentacle over eye; nasal organ a short, hollow 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; tail fin with 9 (9-10) rays; no pelvic fins; body and head covered with relatively few, short (< eye), fixed, 3-rooted spines that are triangular and flattened in cross-section, and, in some cases reduced to plates under skin; no spines wholly atop tail base.

Yellowish brown; head, body and tail base with many small black spots; 2 or more large black, white ringed blotches on mid-back and another at front base of dorsal fin; iris gold, with a ring of black dots; no thin dark lines on body, no small black spots on fins, except tail fin of large fish. Juvenile: bright yellow with large white, black-ringed spots.

Size: grows to about 30 cm; the young lead a pelagic existence until about 3 cm.

Inhabits seagrass beds and adjacent reefs.

Depth: 1-53 m.

 The Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

Note: Waifs in the E Atlantic.

    


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore Only
  • Inshore
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
Habitat
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Reef and soft bottom
  • Rocks
  • Corals
  • Sand & gravel
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
  • Submerged vegetation
FishBase Habitat
  • Reef Associated
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
Egg Type
  • Data
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • West Atlantic Endemic
  • All species.
  • Greater Caribbean endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Continent
  • GC endemic
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • Insular primarily
  • Island (s)
  • All species..
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
  • Temperate (>35N)
IUCN Red List
  • Least concern
  • Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Depth Range Max
  • 53
Depth Range Min
  • 1
Length Max
  • 30