Common names: porcupinefish (English), pez erizo (Espanol), pez-puerco (Espanol)
 
Diodon eydouxii Brissout de Barneville, 1846


Pelagic porcupinefish


Body slender, inflatable; head wide and blunt; eyes large; nasal organ a tentacle with 2 openings; teeth fused into a strong, parrot-like beak that lacks a front groove, large, opens widely at front; gill opening a vertical slit before pectoral base; pectorals large; fins without spines; no pelvic fins; dorsal 16-18 rays; anal 16-18 rays; pectoral 19-22 rays; dorsal and anal fins of adult  curved and pointed; body and head covered with numerous long (> eye), erectible, 2-rooted, slender, round spines; > 20 spines between snout and dorsal fin, none on snout; 2 or more small, fixed spines on top of tail base; spines on snout shorter than those an body; a short, fixed spine immediately above gill opening.

Medium to dark blue above, shading to white below;  a dark blue bar from eye down and forwards; top and sides with black or dark blue < eye sized spots, mostly at spine bases; round spots on dorsal, tail and pectoral fins; anal dusky.

        Size: 30 cm.

Habitat: oceanic, epipelagic.

        
        Depth: 0-10 m.

        Circumtropical; throughout the TEP except the Gulf of California.