Ostracion nasus, Shortnose boxfish

Ostracion nasus Bloch, 1785

Shortnose boxfish
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Ostracion nasus
Picture by Muséum-Aquarium de Nancy/D. Terver

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Tetraodontiformes (Puffers and filefishes) > Ostraciidae (Boxfishes)
Etymology: Ostracion: Greek, ostrakon = shell (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Bloch.

Issue
Genus according to Matsuura (Ref. 9806).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 2 - 80 m (Ref. 1602). Tropical; 19°N - 20°S

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Pacific: Sri Lanka (Ref. 1550) and Sumatra to Fiji, north to the Philippines; Palau and Truk in Micronesia. Matsuura 1999, pers. comm. strongly doubts its distribution in the southern GBR (as reported in Lieske & Meyers 1994, Ref. 9710) and does not know of any reliable record of this species from East Africa.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2334)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 9. Has a small protuberance above the mouth and a distinctly concave snout profile.
Body shape (shape guide): short and / or deep.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found around rocky and sandy substrates (Ref. 1602). Solitary, also found in sheltered bays exposed to heavy silt and mud bottoms of coastal trawling grounds (Ref. 90102).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Matsuura, Keiichi | Collaborators

Matsuura, K., 2001. Ostraciidae. Boxfishes. p. 3948-3951. In K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Vol. 6. Bony fishes part 4 (Labridae to Latimeriidae), estuarine crocodiles. FAO, Rome. (Ref. 9806)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 18 August 2023

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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References

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |