Longhorn cowfish | |
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A longhorn cowfish in Aquarium Finisterrae (Spain) | |
Several boxfish, including the longhorn cowfish. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
Family: | Ostraciidae |
Genus: | Lactoria |
Species: | L. cornuta |
Binomial name | |
Lactoria cornuta | |
The longhorn cowfish (Lactoria cornuta), also called the horned boxfish, is a species of boxfish from the family Ostraciidae, recognizable by its long horns that protrude from the front of its head, rather like those of a cow or bull. [1] They are a resident of the Indo-Pacific region and can grow up to 50 cm (20 in) long.
Adults are reef fish, often solitary and territorial, and live around sand or rubble bottom up to a depth of 50 m (160 ft). They are omnivorous, feeding upon benthic algae, various microorganisms, and foraminiferans that it strains from sediments, sponges, polychaete worms from sand flats, mollusks, small crustaceans, and small fish, able to feed on benthic invertebrates by blowing jets of water into the sandy substrate. Longhorn cowfish protect the coral reefs they live in by being predators of the invertebrates that destroy the reefs. They are also important in the growth and creation of coral reefs for this same reason. [2] According to the IUCN, the Longhorn cowfish is categorized as “Not Evaluated”. [3] While this may eventually be impacted by aquarium trade, currently there is no concern now.
Its primary habitat is coral reefs in lagoons, on reef flats, estuaries, bays, and on protected seaward reefs. [4] Juveniles associate with Acropora corals. Depth range is 3.3–148 ft (1–45 m, perhaps up to 100 m).
Red Sea and East Africa eastward through Indonesia to Marquesas, northward to southern Japan. Including Tuamotus, southern Korea, north to the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, south to Australia and Lord Howe Island, and off southern Africa in the Atlantic. Tropical and subtropical waters. The specimens found in India are a new development in the last couple years, and it is speculated that cyclones or typhoons brought the Lactoria cornuta to a new environment. [5] [6]
There is no known sexual dimorphism, so both male and female display a yellow to olive base color, which is decorated with white or bluish spots. Paired courtship just before or after sunset. Eggs and ichthyoplankton are pelagic. Females generally are larger than males. Males grow to be 65-155 mm with an average of 103 mm, while females grow to be 83-250 mm with an average of 121 mm. Female longhorn cowfish also weigh more than males with a weight range of 17-156 g with an average of 33 g while males have a weight range of 12-116 g with an average of 26 g. [4]
One distinction from other fish is the lack of a gill cover, which is replaced by a small slit or hole. The hexagonal plate-like scales of these fish are fused together into a solid, triangular, box-like carapace, from which the fins and tail protrude. They have large eyes immediately behind the horns. [4] Their unique method of swimming, called ostraciiform swimming, causes them to look as if they are hovering. They have no pelvic skeleton, so they lack pelvic fins. The tail fin of the longhorn cowfish can be the same length as its body, as it relies on its fins for movement. [7] They are such slow swimmers cowfish are easily caught by hand, making a grunting noise when captured. The cowfish are also able to produce two kinds of sounds using muscles connected to their swim bladder, hums and clicks. [8] This species of cowfish is the most well-known cowfish species in the aquarium trade.
If severely stressed, this species may be able to exude deadly toxin, pahutoxin, an ichthyotoxic, hemolytic, heat-stable, non-dialyzable, non-protein poison in the mucous secretions of their skin. It is apparently unique among known fish poisons; it is toxic to the boxfish and mimics sea cucumber toxins in general properties.
The horns of the Longhorn cowfish may have evolved to make it more difficult to swallow for predators. The horns of the boxfish can be used to ward off predators through charging at the predator. [9] If damaged, these horns can grow back within a few months. [10] These horns are mostly hollow and composed of mineralized collagen fibers. [11] Both the hard armor exoskeleton and the use of the toxic secretion are solid defenses against predators. There are also egg predators like labrids and pomacentridae. Larger species in the family are able to ward off the egg predators, but the Longhorn Cowfish spawn close to the substrate in order to hide themselves and their eggs from the predators. [12]
This fish forms harems with 3-4 females in each one. The females spawn shortly after sunset, or during the day when there is a large amount of cloud cover. The spawning season lasts from February to early October. [12] The oval eggs of members of the Lactoria family hatch into the juvenile larvae. These larvae are distinct because they form the box carapace armor that is present on the longhorn cowfish. [13]
On Pamban Island, the local belief was that when the land got separated, the cows on the island metamorphosed into these fish and fed on seaweed. [14]
Triggerfish are about 40 species of often brightly colored fish of the family Balistidae. Often marked by lines and spots, they inhabit tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world, with the greatest species richness in the Indo-Pacific. Most are found in relatively shallow, coastal habitats, especially at coral reefs, but a few, such as the oceanic triggerfish, are pelagic. While several species from this family are popular in the marine aquarium trade, they are often notoriously ill-tempered.
The orange clownfish also known as percula clownfish and clown anemonefish, is widely known as a popular aquarium fish. Like other clownfishes, it often lives in association with sea anemones. A. percula is associated specifically with Heteractis magnifica and Stichodactyla gigantea, and as larvae use chemical cues released from the anemones to identify and locate the appropriate host species to use them for shelter and protection. This causes preferential selection when finding their anemone host species. Although popular, maintaining this species in captivity is rather complex. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority regulates the number of collection permits issued to aquarium fish dealers who seek this, and other tropical fish within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The symbiosis between anemonefish and anemones depends on the presence of the fish drawing other fish to the anemone, where they are stung by its venomous tentacles. The anemone helps the fish by giving it protection from predators, which include brittle stars, wrasses, and other damselfish, and the fish helps the anemone by feeding it, increasing oxygenation, and removing waste material from the host. Various hypotheses exist about the fish's ability to live within the anemone without being harmed. One study carried out at Marineland of the Pacific by Dr. Demorest Davenport and Dr. Kenneth Noris in 1958 revealed that the mucus secreted by the anemone fish prevented the anemone from discharging its lethal stinging nematocysts. A second hypothesis is that A. percula has acquired immunity towards the sea anemone's toxins, and a combination of the two has been shown to be the case. The fish feed on algae, zooplankton, worms, and small crustaceans.
Teleostei, members of which are known as teleosts, is, by far, the largest infraclass in the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, and contains 96% of all extant species of fish. Teleosts are arranged into about 40 orders and 448 families. Over 26,000 species have been described. Teleosts range from giant oarfish measuring 7.6 m (25 ft) or more, and ocean sunfish weighing over 2 t, to the minute male anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps, just 6.2 mm (0.24 in) long. Including not only torpedo-shaped fish built for speed, teleosts can be flattened vertically or horizontally, be elongated cylinders or take specialised shapes as in anglerfish and seahorses.
Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than 10 cm (3.9 in) in length, and the family includes some of the smallest vertebrates in the world, such as Trimmatom nanus and Pandaka pygmaea, Trimmatom nanus are under 1 cm long when fully grown, then Pandaka pygmaea standard length are 9 mm (0.35 in), maximum known standard length are 11 mm (0.43 in). Some large gobies can reach over 30 cm (0.98 ft) in length, but that is exceptional. Generally, they are benthic or bottom-dwellers. Although few are important as food fish for humans, they are of great significance as prey species for other commercially important fish such as cod, haddock, sea bass and flatfish. Several gobiids are also of interest as aquarium fish, such as the dartfish of the genus Ptereleotris. Phylogenetic relationships of gobiids have been studied using molecular data.
The lagoon triggerfish, also known as the blackbar triggerfish, the Picasso triggerfish, or the Picassofish, is a triggerfish, up to 30 cm in length, found on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region.
The honeycomb cowfish belongs to family Ostraciidae. It is also known simply as the trunkfish or cowfish.
The red lionfish is a venomous coral reef fish in the family Scorpaenidae, order Scorpaeniformes. It is mainly native to the Indo-Pacific region, but has become an invasive species in the Caribbean Sea, as well as along the East Coast of the United States and East Mediterranean and also found in Brazil at Fernando de Noronha.
The giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), also known as the Queensland groper (grouper), brindle grouper or mottled-brown sea bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution and is one of the largest extant species of bony fish.
Valentin's sharpnose puffer, also known as the saddled puffer or black saddled toby, is a demersal marine fish belonging to the family Tetraodontidae. The saddled puffer is a small sized fish which grows up to 11 cm. It is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea included, and until the oceanic islands of the Pacific Ocean. It inhabits rocky and coral reefs, lagoons and external reef until 55 m. Canthigaster valentini has a diurnal activity.
Ostracion is a genus of the boxfish family Ostraciidae. Fish in the genus are known as box puffers. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 and makes a brief appearance in Jules Verne's maritime sci-fi novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.
The gray angelfish, also written as grey angelfish and known in Jamaica as the pot cover, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the marine angelfish family, Pomacanthidae. It is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean.
The scrawled cowfish is a species of boxfish native to the western tropical and equatorial Atlantic, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. They range in size from 8–15 inches (20–38 cm), with a maximum length of 18 inches (46 cm), and can be found at depths between 6 and 80 feet. It is common to occasional in Florida and Bahamas; occasional to uncommon in the Caribbean. It also occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, north to Massachusetts, Bermuda and south to Brazil in tropical and warm temperate waters.
Gorgasia preclara, the splendid garden eel or orange-barred garden eel, is a species of marine garden eel.
The queen angelfish, also known as the blue angelfish, golden angelfish, or yellow angelfish, is a species of marine angelfish found in the western Atlantic Ocean. It is a benthic warm-water species that lives in coral reefs. It is recognized by its blue and yellow coloration and a distinctive spot or "crown" on its forehead. This crown distinguishes it from the closely related and similar-looking Bermuda blue angelfish, with which it overlaps in range and can interbreed.
The leopard coral grouper, also known as the common coral trout, leopard coral trout, blue-dotted coral grouper or spotted coral grouper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It is found in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, to spawn refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water ; the physical act is known as spawning. The vast majority of non-mammalian, non-avian and non-reptilian aquatic and/or amphibious lifeforms reproduce through this process, including the:
The spotted trunkfish is a member of the family Ostraciidae. It lives in reefs throughout the Caribbean, as well as the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. It gets its name from the black spots on its whitish or yellow-golden body. In Caribbean countries, it is colloquially known as the boxfish, cow-fish or shellfish.
Tetrosomus gibbosus, commonly called camel cowfish because of the hump on its dorsal keel, is one of 22 species in the boxfish family, Ostraciidae. It is a ray finned fish. Other common names include helmet cowfish, humpback turretfish and thornbacked boxfish. It is most closely related to T. reipublicae, the smallspine turretfish. T. gibbosus is a species of boxfish found in the wide Indo-West Pacific. It has been recorded since 1988 on rare occasions in the Levantine waters of the Mediterranean Sea, likely following entry via the Suez Canal. It is the first species from the family Ostraciidae to be found in the Mediterranean Sea.
Lactophrys triqueter also known as the smooth trunkfish, is a species of boxfish found on and near reefs in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and subtropical parts of the western Atlantic Ocean.
The thornback cowfish, is a poisonous species of boxfish found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the Bass Islands. It can grow to a maximum length of 23 cm (9 in). It is an uncommon fish that feeds on small invertebrates that it picks up off the sea bed.