A large burrfish with short fixed spines and black spots on the body and fins, resting under ledges by day.
To about 75 cm. A rotund inflatable body with a wide blunt head and large eyes. Grey above fading to whitish below, with scattered black spots on the head, body and fins. The teeth are fused into a strong parrot-like beak. Juveniles have a distinct blue cast and larger, sparser spots.
The structural check against the two porcupinefish on this site never fails and is visible in any photograph. This fish has few, short, fixed spines — shorter than the eye and not depressible — so it looks bristly even when deflated. The porcupinefish and the balloonfish have long spines that fold flat. There are one or two spines on top of the base of the tail.
It lives on coral and rocky reef between 1 and 141 m, so it ranges much deeper than the others. It is nocturnal and crushes hard-shelled prey. The young stay in open water until they are about 20 cm, which is an unusually long drifting phase. The eastern Pacific range runs from California to Chile and includes the oceanic islands, but not Clipperton.
It is poisonous to eat, its beak is strong, and because the spines are permanently erect a handled fish is spiky at all times.
The standard name for this species is the spotfin burrfish, and this site now uses it. “Spotted burrfish” is not an accepted name and sits one letter away from the spotbase burrfish, which is a different animal.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.