TheAshBee Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 So it seems to me that it is rather hard to tell parrotfish, pufferfish, and porcupine fish mouthparts "apart" from each other. Is there a way to distinguish these species that's relatively easy? I've tried looking at some resources, but there doesn't seem to be any literature about these little guys... Does anyone have some advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 (edited) Porcupine fish (and Burrfish) mouth plates are a single fused piece. Puffer fish and parrot fish mouth plates have a right plate and a left plate that aren't fused. Almost every mouthplate I've seen identified as pufferfish on this forum is actually Porcupine fish or Burrfish. Here's a picture of a puffer beak showing left and right halves from this web site: http://www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8179/F1.expansion.html Edited April 28, 2014 by Al Dente 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAshBee Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 Al Dente, Thank you for your reply. So, if I'm understanding you correctly, then porcupine and burrfish have a fused plate, with a left and right side? Like these: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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