porcupine-fish

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


name given to severalspecies of the genus Diodon, family Gymnodontes,poisonous fishes; also to Dicotylichthys punctulatus,Kaup., an allied fish 1n which the spines are not erectile asin Diodon, but are stiff and immovable. Chilomycterus jaculiferus, Cuv., another species, hasalso stiff spines, and Atopomycterus nycthemerus, Cuv.,has erectile spines. See Toad-fish and Globe-fish.

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