Wonderful Yellow Boxfish Swimming Inside EEL Mouth

The Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion Cubicus) is a member of the Boxfish family and is understood to grow no larger than 45cm. Recreational divers can find these fish as deep as 40 metres, however they tend to spend most of their time in the shallower and warmer parts of the world’s oceans like the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and also parts of the south eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Boxfish tend to spend most of their days on the reef, their main diet when not grazing on algae is small invertebrates, worms, crustaceans and sponges for example. Using its puckered lips, it blows small bursts of water at the corals and sand to reveal anything that might be hiding.

Box Shaped, and Yellow!

The Yellow Boxfish is in fact, a yellow, box-shaped fish – who would have guessed it? The Juveniles area bright yellow colour with black spots, which helps them to survive by telling nearby shopping predators that they are poisonous (an evolutionary phenomenon known as ‘aposematism’).

However as they begin to mature the number of spots decreases and the yellow blends into almost a dirty, mustard colour. It’s not just the colours that change either, their body also elongates as they grow creating many layers of fused scales that act like a coat of armour.

Impressive Defence

Their body frame is solid and only has necessary openings for the eyes, fins, mouth and tail. These quirky fish may look cute and innocent, but are in fact more like an aluminous swimming Swiss-army knife, packed with defensive gadgetry! The most obvious of these is being a living tank, not too many hunting predators that I can think of would rush to eat a boxfish, which I can only assume is like biting down on a kneecap, which is a bad decision all round, wouldn’t you agree?

A Toxic Nightmare

Another trick the Boxfish holds up its salty sleeve is their chemical defence system. Being closely related to the Pufferfish this is no surprise, however the toxins they hold ‘Pahutoxin’ also known as ‘Ostracitoxin’ works in a way like no other known fish toxins. When in danger the Boxfish secretes this toxin from special cells covering their entire skin and quickly disperses this clear mucus in what is effectively a cloud of regret for any engaged predator!

The pahutoxin has what is known as a ‘haemolytic’ effect, meaning it bursts red blood cells. The toxic mucus binds to the gills and slowly asphyxiates its victim all at a concentration of 10 parts per million. To put it into more relative context of how potent pahutoxin is,10 parts per million is roughly the same as you spitting your mouthwash out on a morning but instead of the sink, into a 2.5million litre sized Olympic swimming pool!

Master of Awkwardness

It’s quite clear the boxfish has made an evolutionary exchange, surrendering all abilities involving speed and agility for its reinforced defensive toolbox. Severely lacking in speed they never fail to amuse me as juveniles, constantly looking like they’re in a state of awkward confusion on how to use their own fins and not knowing which direction to go in.

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