Sealife guideThe scrawled cowfishAcanthostracion quadricornis
Taxonomy
Description
The scrawled cowfish has a body with very angular shapes, giving it the appearance of a box and earning it the name boxfish. Moreover, its body is covered with bony plates that provide to him a protection. The presence of two horn-like protrusions on the upper part of its head gives it a silhouette reminiscent of a bull.
The scrawled cowfish displays characteristic disordered bluish spots and stripes resembling graffiti!
The dominant color of the scrawled cowfish is yellowish with characteristic disordered and irregular bluish spots and stripes resembling graffiti !
The scrawled cowfish typically measures around twenty centimeters in length on average but can reach up to fifty centimeters for the largest specimens.
Range
The scrawled cowfish is found in the tropical waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea around many Caribbean islands such as
Guadeloupe or Martinique, as well as in the Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat
The scrawled cowfish frequents the coral reefs around the numerous islands of the Caribbean Sea and the coasts of Florida.
Diet
The scrawled cowfish feeds mainly on small marine invertebrates.
The scrawled cowfish (Acanthostracion quadricornis)
Did you know ?
The scrawled cowfish is listed as many other marine species within The
IUCN Red List of threatened species. The scrawled cowfish appears in the
IUCN Red List since 2015 within the category Least Concern !
Tips for observing
Be careful not to confuse the scrawled cowfish with the honeycomb cowfish, which has very regular hexagonal patterns similar to the cells of a beehive.
The scrawled cowfish (Acanthostracion quadricornis)
Within the same genus
Honeycomb cowfish
(Acanthostracion polygonium)
Within the same family
Yellow boxfish
(Ostracion cubicus)
Smooth trunkfish
(Rhinesomus triqueter)
Spotted boxfish
(Ostracion meleagris)
Reticulate boxfish
(Ostracion solorensis)
Spotted trunkfish
(Lactophrys bicaudalis)
Thornback cowfish
(Lactoria fornasini)
Explore also
Buffalo sculpin
(Enophrys bison)
Clown coris
(Coris aygula)
Zebra moray
(Gymnomuraena zebra)
Bandtail puffer
(Sphoeroides spengleri)
Clearfin squirrelfish
(Neoniphon argenteus)
Goldlined spinefoot
(Siganus guttatus)
Blue-barred parrotfish
(Scarus ghobban)
Red indian fish
(Pataecus fronto)
The marine species from Caribbean sea
Ballyhoo
(Hemiramphus brasiliensis)
Blue striped grunt
(Haemulon sciurus)
Blue tang surgeonfish
(Acanthurus coeruleus)
Caribbean reef shark
(Carcharhinus perezi)
Gag grouper
(Mycteroperca microlepis)
Labyrinthine brain coral
(Diploria labyrinthiformis)
Lemon shark
(Negaprion brevirostris)
Nassau grouper
(Epinephelus striatus)
Dive centers
'Les Ilets' dive center
Noa dive center
