Species: Chilomycterus antillarum, Web Burrfish

Chilomycterus antillarum Jordan & Rutter, 1897

Web Burrfish

Body rotund, can be inflated; head wide and blunt; eyes large; any tentacle over eye is smaller than 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.

Cream; a honeycomb network of fine black lines on body and head; 5-7 large dark blotches on back and sides, including one at base of dorsal fin; no black spots on body or small black spots on fins. Juvenile with oranges spines on a black background; fins clear

Size: grows to about 30 cm.

Inhabits coral and rocky reefs, but also trawled on soft bottoms.

Depth: 2-136 m.

N Carolina through the Caribbean to northern Brazil.