Striped Burrfish
The scientific name of the striped burrfish is Chilomycterus schoepfi. These organisms live in grass beds and lagoons from Maine to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil. The domain is eukaryote, the kingdom is animalia, the phylum is chordata, and the class is actinopterygii. The order is tetraodontiformes, the family is diodontidae, the Genus is Chilomycterus, and the species is schoepfi. The striped burrfish has bilateral symmetry which is when you can divide something into two parts and both will be equal. They can grow up to ten inches and they are light tan and yellow with dark spots and many curved lines. One behavioral adaptation is that these fish inflate when scared so no predator can fit them in their mouth. One structural adaptation is that they have spikes so no predators would like to eat them because that would not be very pleasant. Another structural adaptation is that striped burrfish have very elastic stomachs to ingest air and water so that they can puff up when predators approach as quickly as possible. An interesting fact about them is that the striped burrfish are also called spiny boxfish and they are members of the porcupinefish family. They feed on crabs, small fish, barnacles, and clams which makes them heterotrophs. The only predators of the burrfish are humans because of their spikes and their ability to inflate when scared. They are ectothermic which means that they cannot control their body temperature because they are cold blooded and rely on their environment to keep them warm. Two sources that I used for research are http://www.naturelssi.com/?p=740 and National Aquarium | Striped Burrfish.
By Hannah Pierce
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