Species: Chilomycterus schoepfii, Striped Burrfish

Chilomycterus schoepfii (Walbaum, 1792)

Striped Burrfish

Body rotund, can be inflated; head wide and blunt; eyes large; either no or a very small 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 on tail base. Juvenile with a large tentacle over eye.

Pale cream to grey with many roughly longitudinal thin dark lines on head and body; 5-7 large dark blotches on back; no black spots on body or fins. Juvenile: body with black lines on a yellow background, spines yellowish.

Size: grows to about 33 cm; the young lead a pelagic existence until about 1-2 cm.

Inhabits soft bottoms, seagrass beds, estuaries, lagoons; move to reefs in winter.

Depth: 0-92 m.

Nova Scotia to the NW Caribbean.