What kind of pufferfish? mutant porcupine?

[Scuba_Jenny]

Found this guy this afternoon off the beach, south of Ft. Lauderdale. About 15" long, at a depth of about 18-20'. First guess would be some kind of porcipine fish, but I have never seen one with such bright yellow spines. And sadly, my REEF ID book is unavailable to reference for the yellow around the eye..

 

[Mark Derail]

Either the WB is way, waaaaaaaaaaaaay off, or the poor critter was exposed to a toxic dump of some kind. Poor feller.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

nope.. those spines were yellow like that.. WB not off that much to create such a difference in color.. especially when the rest of the photo is pretty good color..

 

[Mark Derail]

The WB was humor...other than the coloring, he looks just like other puffers I saw in the Caribbeans. I suspect food poisoning, or the little guys he's eating have a high sulfur content.
His mouth / lips are strange.

You are what you eat...
Pure speculation of course.

Reminds me of the blue squirrel story, that one expect says it fell into a portable loo.

nope.. those spines were yellow like that.. WB not off that much to create such a difference in color.. especially when the rest of the photo is pretty good color..

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

sorry didn't catch the humor...

 

[Mark Derail]

Outstanding pic you did, btw, kudos for doing that. Hopefully someone else will help.

And this puffer, couldn't catch the red dot. Humor again, so sorry

[video=youtube;2i6LhaKTvOs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2i6LhaKTvOs#![/video]

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

awwwh.. I have a soft spot in my heart for puffers... long story.. not worth retelling unless lots of rum is involved..

 

[Mark Derail]

Be at the 2014 Invade Coz, Sylvie & I will be interested in hearing it. I can make rum mojitos better than most in Mexico because they skip important steps.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

2014??? that might be doable!!!

 

[agilis]

The fish is an old very large Chilomycterus antillarum, usually called a Web Burrfish. They are uncommon in Florida waters, usually found down in the Caribbean. It's uncommonly large, and, like many oldtimers it has gotten dark splotches and other unique markings. Still, it is a Web Burrfish, absolutely. I've seen many of them, but only a couple even close to that size.