Long-spine porcupinefish
Amazing fact
A long-spine porcupinefish’s spines are modified scales.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A long-spine porcupinefish’s spines are modified scales.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Long-spine porcupinefish
- Scientific name
- Diodon holocanthus
- Japanese name
- ハリセンボン
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Diodontidae
- Genus
- Diodon
Where the name “Long-spine porcupinefish” comes from
The Japanese name Harisenbon comes from its many-spined appearance.
鳥羽水族館It lives in tropical to temperate seas around the world, including Japan, in shallow places such as seagrass flats and coral reefs.
When threatened, it sucks in water or air to puff up its body, making its spines stand up.
Its teeth are fused into a beak that cracks the shells of snails, sea urchins and hermit crabs.
How the Long-spine porcupinefish lives
At night, it uses its large eyes to find food. It hunts prey but swims slowly. It mainly uses its tail to steer, and sometimes for bursts of speed. By day, it rests near ledges or shallow caves on the rocky seabed.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Diet
- Snails, sea urchins, and hermit crabsUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Tropical to temperate regions worldwide鳥羽水族館
Where the Long-spine porcupinefish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ハリセンボン
- 简体中文
- 六斑二齿鲀
- 繁體中文
- 六斑二齒魨
- 한국어
- 가시복
- Español
- Pez erizo de espinas largas
- Français
- Poisson-hérisson tacheté
- Deutsch
- Braunflecken-Igelfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-ouriço-de-crista
- Italiano
- Pesce istrice
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá nóc nhím gai dài
- Русский
- Длинноиглая рыба-ёж
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ハリセンボンChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Diodon holocanthusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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