Burrfish - Rapid Change Chameleon Act

[FishFan]

Anne and I noticed color changes in our Burmese puffers, where normally white tummies would turn black. We saw the same thing in our Webbed Burrfish. We never saw a puffer change pigment rapidly like we observed tonight from our Orbicular Burrfish. In the course of a couple seconds we noted his base color change from the pale cream with a hint of rose (see avatar photo) to a chocolate milk brown. We noted that his color was dark when he was in his cave and interpreted it as being a bit unhappy. But when we fed him today we noticed his dark color transition to light astonishingly fast right after he came out to get a bit of food. Noticing it once, we were paying attention and realized he was changing his color very rapidly after he entered the light and before entering his cave. The shade transition was astonishingly fast.

Thus may also explain why we had so much trouble photographing his true color when we first got hIm. His true color was different depending on the lighting and use of flash.

Has anyone else observed this in this species?

[RTR]

They are very close kin - two dental plates rather than puffers' four dental plates (along with other differences) - but not exactly "Puffers" even though they do inflate. We have to expect differences between the two big subsection of the family. Calling them Burtrfish, as you do, or Spiny Boxfish does help remind us that they are different from the subgroup which we properly but confusingly just call puffers or pufferfis. It is often confusing when we properly call the whole group the pufferfish family, but that is what they are. We need clearer names, but have to deal with what is currently accepted.

[FishFan]

They are very close kin - two dental plates rather than puffers' four dental plates (along with other differences) - but not exactly "Puffers" even though they do inflate. We have to expect differences between the two big subsection of the family. Calling them Burtrfish, as you do, or Spiny Boxfish does help remind us that they are different from the subgroup which we properly but confusingly just call puffers or pufferfis. It is often confusing when we properly call the whole group the pufferfish family, but that is what they are. We need clearer names, but have to deal with what is currently accepted.

I think you're right, and perhaps my post wasn't completely clear. The Orbicular Burrfish isn't in the same genus as the Bridled, Striped, or Webbed Burrfish which are Chilomycterus schoephi and anthillarum. I don't know how to tell these apart but sellers are also pretty confused too. The Porcupine puffers, which have a body shape similar to the Orbicular Burrfish, are in the genus Diodon. All the Orbicular Burrfish we've seen in the past came into pet stores as Porcupine puffers, apparently due to the similarity in the body shape. The Orbicular we have now is the first we've seen sold as such.

In my post I was meaning to ask about the observations of other people with the Orbicular Burrfish, which is Cyclichthys orbicularis.

But you've piqued my curiosity. Do you know the tooth configurations on all three of the salt water puffer genus above? Is this a distinguishing characteristic?

What are the names of the two families you were speaking of?
-R

[RTR]

Yes, the dental plate differences are of major taxonomic significance. They set the division between the two largest sub-groups in the family.

You can find a lot of info browsing Wikipedia - be prepared to have lots of tabs open... plus some fun leads such as spawning sites) a.k.a. "crop circles", and the recent bit on dolphins getting stoned on puffer toxins...

[FishFan]

Yes, the dental plate differences are of major taxonomic significance. They set the division between the two largest sub-groups in the family.

You can find a lot of info browsing Wikipedia - be prepared to have lots of tabs open... plus some fun leads such as spawning sites) a.k.a. "crop circles", and the recent bit on dolphins getting stoned on puffer toxins...

For the purposes of this forum, they're all "puffers", right?

[RTR]

They are all members of the pufferfish "Family". The "4-tooth" (tetraodontids) group and the "2-tooth" (diodontids) group are the two big divisions. Remember that "tetra-" = 4 and "di-" = 2; the "-odont" bit refers to tooth. But they are not really 2 or 4 teeth, they are 2 or 4 dental plates which start as multiple tooth buds in the embryo, but fuse to form 2 or 4 dental plates in the fish. The group is phylogenitically rather isolated from nearby families of modern fish, which means they are a bit isolated in the current "tree of life".

The whole group arose in marine conditions. The BW & FW members are more recent developments.