About Boxfishes (Trunkfishes)

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Ostraciidae

Ostraciidae is a family of squared, bony fish belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, closely related to the pufferfishes and filefishes. Fish in the family are known variously as boxfishes, cofferfishes, cowfishes and trunkfishes. It contains about 23 extant species in 6 extant genera.

 

Commonly seen during diving in the Andaman Sea

Boxfishes, or also called Trunkfishes, are commonly found throughout the Andaman Sea. We can see them during virtually every dive site and often see several types of Boxfishes during the dives.

About the Boxfish

Boxfishes are solitary animals and are rather rectangular in cross-section with a downward pointed small mouth with thick lips: their teeth are cone-shaped. The eyes are placed high on the head, which is large on the short body. These fishes have quite a whimsical appearance. Cowfish add to this illusion by having a pair of very bovine horns above their eyes.

They have a toxic mucous covering, to which they add under stress. This toxin can kill other fish and, in the confines of an aquarium, can kill the trunkfish itself, which is not immune for its own poison. When this toxic mucus is released from the fish, it quickly dissolves in the environment and negatively affects any fish in the surrounding area.

Boxfishes eat worms, sponges, molluks and algae.

Males have harems and defend large territories. Boxfishes are hermaphroditic (organisms that have reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes), with females maturing first and later becoming males.

The Yellow Boxfish

The Boxfishes almost every diver likes most to see, is the Yellow Boxfish. This fish is very much box-shaped and when juvenile, it can has the size of 2 matchboxes and is bright yellow in color, with a little black dotted pattern. As it ages, the brightness fades and very old specimens will have blue-grey coloration with faded yellow.

Inspiration for Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz bionic car by Ryan Somma

In 2006, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its Bionic concept car, which was inspired by the shape of the yellow boxfish^. It was assumed that due to the extreme agility with which boxfish maneuver, that their shape was aerodynamic and self stabilizing. However, analysis by scientists suggests that boxfish agility is instead due to the combination of an aerodynamically unstable body and the manner in which the fish use their fins for movement.


Sources:

• Aladdin Dive Safari
• Robert Sklar Cogen
• Wikipedia