Georgia Arnold

Mrs. Cook-Science

October 22nd, 2015

Striped Burrfish

The striped burrfish, or Chilomycterus schoepfi, is a yellow green color with brown/black spikes. It can grow up to 10 inches long, and has yellow spikes covering its entire body. Its characteristics include brown spots covering the dorsal fins,  as well as black spots. To swim, the striped burrfish squirts water out of its gills propelling them forward. The blue crab has bilateral symmetry which means it is symmetrical only if it is divided down the middle, or its center point.They eat snails, barnacles, and other small fish. When they eat something like a snail, their teeth crush the shell, making it easier to digest. They are endothermic, which means they are warm blooded. The striped burrfish does not have any main predators, but a shark is one of them. It has bilateral symmetry, which means it can be divided only at its center point and be symmetrical. It is in the eukaryote domain, animala kingdom, chordata phylum, actinopterygii class, tetraodontiformes order, diodontidae family, chilomycterus genus, and finally schoepfi species. The striped burrfish is usually found from Virginia to Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico, but they are most commons along the coast of South Carolina. They usually live in estuaries with sandy/rocky floors.  A behavioral and functional adaptation of the striped burrfish is that they puff up when threatened. They are able to deflate their bodies, a structural adaptation.

The striped burrfish are heterotrophs, which means they rely on other organisms for food.