{{Short description|Family of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Porcupinefish | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|50|0|Early Eocene to present}} | image = Pez erizo moteado (Diodon hystrix), Cabo Pulmo, Baja California, México, 2024-12-19, DD 23.jpg | image_caption = ''Diodon hystrix'' | taxon = Diodontidae | authority = Bonaparte, 1838 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision_ref = <ref name="Matsuura2014">{{cite journal |last1=Matsuura |first1=Keiichi |date=January 2015 |title=Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014 |journal=Ichthyological Research |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages= 72–113 |doi=10.1007/s10228-014-0444-5 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2015IchtR..62...72M }}</ref> | subdivision = ''Allomycterus''<br /> ''Chilomycterus''<br /> ''Cyclichthys''<br /> ''Diodon''<br /> ''Dicotylichthys''<br /> ''Lophodiodon''<br /> ''Tragulichthys'' }}
'''Porcupinefishes''' are medium-to-large fish belonging to the family '''Diodontidae''' from the order Tetraodontiformes<ref>{{cite web |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Diodontidae/classification/ |title=Diodontidae: Classification |date=2023 |last1=Myers |first1=P.|last2=Espinosa |first2=R. |last3=Parr |first3=C. S. |last4=Jones |first4=T. |last5=Hammond |first5=G. S. |last6=Dewey |first6=T. A. |website=Animal Diversity Web |publisher=University of Michigan Museum of Zoology |access-date=1 April 2023 }}</ref> which are also commonly called '''blowfishes''' and, sometimes, '''balloonfishes''' and '''globefishes'''. The family includes about 18 species. They are sometimes collectively called '''pufferfishes''',<ref name=AF>{{cite book|editor=Cooke, J.|author=Mills, D.|year=1993|title=Aquarium Fish|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=San Diego|pages=[https://archive.org/details/aquariumfish00mill_0/page/281 281]|isbn=1-56458-293-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/aquariumfish00mill_0/page/281}}</ref> not to be confused with the morphologically similar and closely related Tetraodontidae, which are more commonly given this name.
They are found in shallow, temperate, and tropical seas worldwide. A few species are found much further out from shore, wherein large schools of thousands of individuals can occur.<ref name="AM">{{cite web |url=https://australian.museum/learn/animals/fishes/diodontidae-porcupinefishes/ |title=Diodontidae - Porcupinefishes |date=18 June 2022<!-- fr pg source -->|website=Animal factsheets |publisher=Australian Museum |access-date=1 April 2023 }}</ref><ref name=EoF>{{cite book |last1=Matsuura |first1=K. |last2=Tyler |first2=J.C. |editor-last1=Paxton |editor-first1=J.R. |editor-last2=Eschmeyer |editor-first2=W.N. |year=1998 |title=Encyclopedia of Fishes |location=San Diego, California, USA |publisher= Academic Press |page= 231 |isbn= 0-12-547665-5}}</ref>
== Taxonomy ==
=== Extant genera === The following genera are known:
* ''Allomycterus'' <small>McCulloch, 1921</small> * ''Chilomycterus'' <small>Brisout de Barneville, 1846</small> * ''Cyclichthys'' <small>Kaup, 1855</small> * ''Diodon'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> * ''Dicotylichthys'' <small>Kaup, 1855</small> * ''Lophodiodon'' <small>Fraser-Brunner, 1943</small> * ''Tragulichthys'' <small>Whitley, 1931</small>
=== Fossil genera === [[File:Prodiodon erinaceus.JPG|thumb|''Prodiodon'', an Eocene-aged fossil porcupinefish from Italy]] The following genera are known only from fossil remains:<ref>{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=83301 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=paleobiodb.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cantalice |first1=Kleyton M. |last2=Salgado-Garrido |first2=Hugo E. |last3=Sosa-Rodríguez |first3=Erick |last4=Vilchis-Zapata |first4=Kay |last5=González-Barba |first5=Gerardo |last6=Project |first6=on behalf of the Underwater Archaeological Atlas |date=2025-02-06 |title=Underwater paleontology inside cenotes reveals the Miocene-Pliocene fish diversity in the Yucatan Peninsula, southeast Mexico |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=20 |issue=2 |article-number=e0315382 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0315382 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=11801553 |pmid=39913453 |bibcode=2025PLoSO..2015382C }}</ref>
* †''Eodiodon'' <small>Casier, 1952</small> (Late Eocene of Belgium) * †''Heptadiodon'' <small>Bronn, 1855</small> (Early Eocene of Italy) * †''Oligodiodon'' <small>Sauvage</small><small>, 1873</small> (Miocene of Austria & Italy) * †''Prodiodon'' <small>Ladanois, 1955</small> (Early Eocene of Italy) * †''Progymnodon'' <small>Dames, 1883</small> (mid-late Eocene of the United States and Romania) * †''Pshekhadiodon'' <small>Bannikov & Tyler, 1997</small> (Middle Eocene of the North Caucasus, Russia)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tyler |first1=J. C. |last2=Bannikov |first2=A. F. |date=2009-11-01 |title=Phylogenetic implications of the some cranial features of the porcupine pufferfish Pshekhadiodon (Tetraodontiformes, Diodontidae) from the Eocene of the Northern Caucasus |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S003294520909001X |journal=Journal of Ichthyology |language=en |volume=49 |issue=9 |pages=703–709 |doi=10.1134/S003294520909001X |bibcode=2009JIch...49..703T |issn=1555-6425|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * †''Zignodon'' <small>Tyler & Santini, 2002</small> (Early Eocene of Italy)
== Characteristics == Porcupinefish are generally slow-moving.<ref name=EoF/>
They have the ability to inflate their bodies by swallowing water or air, thereby becoming rounder. This increase in size (almost double vertically) reduces the range of potential predators to those with much larger mouths. A second defense mechanism is provided by the sharp spines, which radiate outwards when the fish is inflated.
They have upper and lower teeth that fuse into a shape of a parrot's beak; they use this beak to eat molluscs and sea urchins.<ref name="AM"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dudley |first1=Gordon |last2=Sumich |first2=James |last3=Cass-Dudley |first3=Virginia L. |date=2011 |title=Laboratory and Field Investigations in Marine Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MgqFV_YQNXUC&pg=PA159 |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers |location=Sudbury, Massachusetts, USA |isbn=978-1-4496-0501-8 |page=159 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ponder |first1=Winston Frank |last2=Lindberg |first2=David R. |last3=Ponder |first3=Juliet Mary |date=2019 |title=Biology and Evolution of the Mollusca |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjL3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA523 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton, Florida, USA |isbn=978-1-351-11565-0 }}</ref>
Some species are poisonous, having tetrodotoxin in their internal organs, such as the ovaries and liver. This neurotoxin is at least 1,200 times more potent than cyanide. The poison is produced by several types of bacteria obtained from the fish's diet.<ref>Piper, R. (2007), ''Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals'', Greenwood Press.</ref> As a result of these three defenses, porcupinefish have few predators, though adults are sometimes preyed upon by sharks and orcas. Juveniles are also preyed on by ''Lysiosquillina maculata'', tuna, and dolphins.<ref name=EoF/>
== Relationship with humans == === Consumption === Porcupinefish are eaten as food fish and are an exotic delicacy in Cebu, Philippines, where they are called ''tagotongan''. However, pufferfish can be dangerous to consume since they can cause tetrodotoxin poisoning.
==In popular culture== The porcupine fish (as ''Diodon antennatus'') is mentioned in Charles Darwin's account of his 1831–1836 trip around the world, ''The Voyage of the Beagle''. He noted how the fish can swim quite well when inflated, though the altered buoyancy requires them to do so upside down. Darwin also mentioned:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Darwin |first1=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yURHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA14 |title=Journal of Researches Into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World: Under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N. |date=1845 |publisher=J. Murray |page=14 |edition=2nd}}</ref> {{Quote|I have heard from Dr. Allen of Forres [a fellow naturalist], that he has frequently found a ''Diodon'', floating alive and distended, in the stomach of the shark; and that on several occasions he has known it eat its way, not only through the coats of the stomach, but through the sides of the monster, which has thus been killed. Who would ever have imagined that a little soft fish could have destroyed the great and savage shark? }}
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Pufferfish (Butete).jpg|A porcupinefish in an aquarium File:Porcupine fish.jpg|A dead porcupinefish with clearly visible spines on the shore File:Preserved porcupine fish at a lab.jpg|Preserved porcupine fish in a laboratory File:Porcupinefish1.jpg|A dead porcupinefish washed up on a beach File:Porcupinefish2.jpg|A dead porcupinefish File:Diodon nicthemerus - southern globefish - tokyosealifepark - 2019-1-8.webm|(video) ''Diodon nicthemerus'' swimming </gallery>
== See also == *List of fish families *List of marine aquarium fish species
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Diodontidae|''Diodontidae''}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Diodontidae|''Diodontidae''}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q329334}}
Category:Diodontidae Category:Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte