Dee, what kind of fish is this?

[scubatexastony]

he was about a foot in diameter and 3 or so ft. long, hiding in the cavern, all i saw at first was the mouth, bout' 5-6 inches across.
do puffers get this big?

we diving tomorrow? I'll call ya later.

tony

 

[Dee]

They get 1-2ft long with a max of 3ft!!! So no, you weren't nac'd and it probably was that big.

They lurk in or near cave openings and recesses and occasionally in grassy areas.

They are also called the Spotted Spiny Puffer.

Yep...diving tomorrow.

 

[Mikimaru]

Nice Porcupinefish ! Thanks for sharing! Here's a distant "cousin" of your porcupinefish, a Map Puffer, I believe. It seemed to be much larger than the 60 cm. max (2 ft.) indicated in my fish guide book !

 

[CheeseWhiz]

There you are being a fount of knowledge again.

What would we do without you?

 

[gbundersea]

In front of the porcupinefish is a sharpnose puffer (Canthigaster rostrata.) Beautiful small puffer species, very common in the Gulf of Mexico, with a max length of about 4-5."

A brand-new species similar to the sharpnose was discovered in the Gulf just within the last 2 years. The common name is the goldfaced toby. It appears in the third edition of Humann's book. I was on a trip last year where someone else saw and photographed one, but not me. Bummer!

Greg Bunch
gbunch@gbundersea.com
http://www.gbundersea.com
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