Striped Burrfish

(Chilomycterus schoepfi)

The Striped Burrfish, also known as Chilomycterus schoepfi is found in grass beds and estuaries in the Northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil, and from Maine to Florida.  This organism’s domain is Eukarya, and kingdom of  Animalia.  The Striped Burrfish is in the phylum, Chordata and class of Actinopetygii.  The order for the Striped Burrfish is Tetraodontiformes and family of Diodontidae. The genus is Chilomycterus and species, schoepfi.  The Striped Burrfish has countershading symmetry which is protective coloration of some animals in which parts normally in shadow are light and those exposed to the sky are dark.  This organism has dark stripes, small, yellow, spikes, and a yellow tail and yellow fins.  Striped Burrfish adaptations include having a beak-like jaw that helps them eat crustaceans easily.  Striped Burrfish also puff up, revealing their spikes to predators.  An interesting fact is that Striped Burrfish are very bad swimmers so they swim by shooting water.  This organism’s predator is humans, however this organism feeds on crabs, shrimp, mussels, and crustaceans.  The Striped Burrfish is a heterotroph and is endothermic, which means that it is warm-blooded.

The picture of the Striped Burrfish was taken by ahawkinscook.