The Eastern smooth boxfish (''Anoplocapros inermis''), also known as the chubby basketfish, freckled boxfish, golden boxfish, polled boxfish, robust boxfish or white-barred boxfish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Aracanidae Aracanidae, the deep sea boxfishes or temperate boxfishes, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes belonong to the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes the pufferfishes, triggerfishes and ocean sunfishes. The fishes in this family are f ...

, the deepwater boxfishes or temperate boxfishes. This fish is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the seas of southeastern Australia.

Taxonomy

The Eastern smooth boxfish was first formally described as ''Strophiurichthys inermis'' in 1935 by the British

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Alec Fraser-Brunner Alec Frederick Fraser-Brunner (6 April 1906 – 17 Sept 1986) was a British ichthyologist. His career included work with the Colonial Office, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and as the curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium in Singapore and the ...

with its type locality given as

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. This species is now regarded as a member of the genus '' Anoplocapros'' which the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies within the family Aracanidae within the

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Ostracioidea Ostracioidea or Ostracioidei, the boxfishes, is a suborder of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes the pufferfishes, filefishes and triggerfishes. The fishes in this taxon are found in the Atlantic, India ...

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontiformes (), also known as the Plectognathi, is an order of ray-finned fishes which includes the pufferfishes and related taxa. This order has been classified as a suborder of the order Perciformes, although recent studies have found ...

Etymology

The Eastern smooth boxfish is in the genus ''Anoplocapros'', a name which compounds ''anoplos'', meaning "unarmed", with ''capros'', which means a "wild boar". The unarmed part refers to the lack of spines, while the allusion to wild boars may refer to these fishes being known as seapigs in the 19th century, probably an allusion to the resemblance of these fishes on a rear view to a pig. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''inermis'', also means "unarmed".

Description

The Eastern smooth boxfish has 10 or 11 soft rays in its

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

, 10 or 11 in its

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

, 12 in its

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

and 11 in its

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

. The dorsal profile between the snout and the start of the dorsal ridge is convex. There are two series of bony plate-like scales around the

caudal peduncle Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

, the front plate is broken but the rear one is complete, both these rings have the plate-like scales are rough to the touch because they are covered in

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projectio ...

s. The overall colour of the body is pale yellow to brown above the lower ridge along the flanks, this fades to white below the ridge and the dorsal and lateral sides of body with large dark yellow to dark brown spots. In larger males the overall colour changes to a uniform bluish tinged with yellow with transparent fins. This species has a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

The Eastern smooth boxfish is endemic to southeastern Australia where it is found in southern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, New South Wales and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. Here it occurs at depths down to on coastal and offshore reefs.

Biology

The Eastern smooth boxfish feeds on benthic invertebrates, e.g. crabs. There are separate sexes and the eggs and larvae are pelagic. Although this species does not have toxic flesh it can exude a toxic mucus which can kill other fish, this mucus can kill the boxfish too if it is exposed to it for too long. Where and how this mucus is produced is not known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2688581 Eastern smooth boxfish Fish described in 1935 Taxa named by Alec Fraser-Brunner Fish of the Pacific Ocean