The Puffer Forum

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/f ... hp?t=37060

some kind of burr but with mental spines.. and about 40cm long..

anyone seen anything like this, not an aquarium trade species I don't think, but someone might have stumbled across something like it..

I'm sure Corvus will know..

I wanted to help, but can't view the pics...

Probably a Allomycterus pilatus. The ones from NZ have been named Allomycterus whiteleyi and Allomycterus jaculiferus in the past and are now just considered to be synonyms.

More studies are needed to show if the NZ population of this fish can be described as a separate species, so far they are not seen as one. Probably there will be 3 Allomycterus sp. in the future, but right now there is only this one (fishbase is not entirely up to date re this topic).

It's called deepwater burr, but at least one morph occurs in shallow waters. Typical characters are 9 caudal ray; nostril in adults bifid; no spines wholly on dorsal surface of caudal peduncle, but large spines that extend over the peduncle nearly to the caudal-fin base. Most spines are fixed with three roots (can actually see that on this rotting specimen) except for a few close to the pectoral fin, which are erectible.

thanks corvus, people on PFK very impressed.

his done it again!

hehe


good job mate!