Striped Burrfish
                        Chilomycterus schoepfi

Habitat:  Gulf of Mexico to Brazil and as far north as Maine.

Domain:  Eukarya
Kingdom:  Animalia
Phylum:  Chordata
Class:  Actinopterygii
Order:  Tetraodontiformes
Family:  Diodontidae
Genus:  Chilomycterus
Species:  schoepfi

     The Striped Burrfish has bilateral symmetry.  They are yellowish-green with dark, wavy stripes.  One behavioral adaptation is they puff up into a spiny ball to scare off predators.  Another behavioral  adaptation is that they squirt water out of their gill openings, which helps them move forward.  A structural adaptation is they have large jaws that allow them to crush the shells of mollusks to eat.  An interesting fact about the Striped Burrfish is that they move by waving their side and tail fins, not by using their entire body like most fish.  Their prey are barnacles and hermit crabs.  They have no predators because of it's spine when it puffs up.  They are heterotrophic and ectothermic.