Penny Wallace

October 26, 2015

Science/English

Striped Burrfish

           The Striped Burrfish or Chilomycterus schoepfi lives in brackish water in marine environment areas within the temperatures of 54 to 100 fahrenheit. Adults are found usually in seagrass beds. The Striped Burrfish cannot survive in water colder than 43 fahrenheit because the organisms will freeze. The region of the Striped Burrfish is from Virginia to Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico. The domain to this organism is eukaryote and the kingdom is animalia. The phylum is chordata and the class is actinopterygii. The order is tetraodontiformes and the family is diodontidae. The genus and species is Chilomycterus schoefi. The Striped Burrfish has a maximum size of ten inches in length. This organism has a yellow, brownish body and has black stripes. It also has spikes all around its body. An interesting fact about the Striped Burrfish is that they are not very good swimmers. The organism moves by jetting water from restricting gill openings. Also, This organism has a great defense system from inflating. The organism does it when it is scared and it also scares off predators. Due to the spikes and inflation of this organism it does not have many predators. Although bigger fish, such as a Shark can still eat this organism. Prey to this organism are invertebrates, such as Barnacles and Hermit Crabs. This organism is a heterotroph, therefore it relies on other organisms for food. This organism is ectothermic, meaning that its body temperature fluctuates with the temperature of its surroundings. A structural adaptation to this organism is that when it gets scared, it inflates, scaring the predator away. Also, another structural adaptation is that this organism has spikes that are spiky, therefore most predators won’t eat it. One more structural adaptation is that this organism has a powerful beak, that also protects itself from predators. This organism has bilateral symmetry, meaning if you were to divide the organism in half, the halves would look like it is equal. The picture down below is from the learning commons. I cannot wait to learn more about other organisms!
           My sources were http://www.chesapeakebay.net/fieldguide/critter/striped_burrfish, http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/striped-burrfish, and http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Chilomycterus_schoepfii.htm

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