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Diodon holocanthus

Balloonfish

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Balloonfish, Freckled Porcupinefish, Spiny Balloonfish, Long-spine Porcupinefish; French Poisson Porc-épic à Taches

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE circumtropical - subtropical. Including: e.Africa - GBR - Lord Howe; Rarotonga, Pitcairn - Easter; Hawai‘i - subtropical America; n. to s.Japan

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore, lagoon & outer reef-slope, to 25m depth; Feeds on mollusks, sea urchins, hermit crabs, and crabs at night. Juveniles solitary & pelagic to ~10cm.

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Not Eaten; Poisonous to eat - serious

KEY FEATURES: To 40cm SL. Rotund with spines. Pale brown above, shading to white below; large brown irregular bar through eye and over forehead; 4 dorsal brown blotches; scattered spots across back of body. Fins & tail without spots. Spines on top of head longer than others.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Black-blotched Porcupinefish (Diodon liturosus) eye-stripe does not extend onto forehead; brown blotches are edged in white, and usually darker; spines on head are short. The Porcupinefish (Diodon hystrix) is covered in small spots, including on fins; blotches where present are diffuse.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Diodon holocanthus Linneaus, 1758
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Tetraodontiformes; Tetraodontoidei; Tetraodontoidea; DIODONTIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: Photo ID S.Afsenius (SA00).

References:
p.656 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 175-07 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 105-13 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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