United States (contiguous states) country information

Common names: Balloonfish, Blotched porcupine, Freckled porcupinefish
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: scarce (very unlikely) | Ref: Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Also Ref. 7182, 26340.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.nmfs.gov
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Porc-épic ballon, Pejerizo balón, Porcupine, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Tetraodontiformes (Puffers and filefishes) > Diodontidae (Porcupinefishes (burrfishes))
Etymology: Diodon: Greek, di = two + Greek, odous = teeth (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 2 - 200 m (Ref. 5951), usually 2 - 35 m (Ref. 40849). Subtropical; 37°N - 39°S, 8°E - 55°W (Ref. 55210)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Circumtropical in distribution. Western Atlantic: Canada (Ref. 5951), Florida, USA and the Bahamas to Brazil (Ref. 7251). Eastern Atlantic: 30°N to 23°S (Ref. 6951); also South Africa (Ref. 4423). Western Indian Ocean: southern Red Sea to Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius (Ref. 53568). Pacific Ocean: southern Japan south to Lord Howe Island and east to the Hawaiian and Easter islands (Ref. 37816). Also from southern California, USA to Colombia (Ref. 11482) and the Galapagos Islands (Ref. 5227).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251); common length : 15.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 55763)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13 - 15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 15. Pelagic juveniles with spots, particularly prominent on belly; adults with dark blotches across back and spots between the blotches; fins without spots (Ref. 4423). 14 to 16 spines in an approximate row between snout and origin of dorsal fin; with a large brown bar above and below each eye; a broad transverse brown bar on occipital region of head (Ref. 13442).

Inhabit shallow reefs to open, soft bottoms. Also in areas with rocky substrata. Sometimes form groups (Ref. 9710, 48637). Occur on open muddy substrates as well as on rich soft-bottom and coral reefs. Juveniles often with floating Sargassum rafts. Young and sub-adults may form small groups (Ref. 48637). Benthopelagic (Ref. 58302). Juveniles pelagic to about 6-9 cm. Solitary. Feed on mollusks, sea urchins, hermit crabs, and crabs at night (Ref. 9680). Relatively poor swimmers (Ref. 9710). Used in Chinese medicine (Ref. 12166). Captured at the surface using a hand net (Ref. 26165).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Leis, J.M., 1984. Diodontidae. In W. Fischer and G. Bianchi (eds.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean fishing area 51. Vol. 2. (Ref. 3393)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 June 2011

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 30303)

Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial

FAO(Publication : search) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
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Ecology
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 21.5 - 29, mean 27.3 (based on 2666 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5313 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.05888 (0.02847 - 0.12178), b=2.80 (2.61 - 2.99), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.9 ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (27 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Diodon holocanthus Linnaeus, 1758