Range and Identity
Lactoria diaphana has a broad Indo-Pacific and eastern Pacific distribution, with a southeastern Atlantic record also noted. Individual locality records should remain explicit rather than making every tropical coast an assumed part of an evenly occupied range.
Habitat and Behavior
Adults inhabit coastal coral and rocky reefs and also occur on offshore sand and mudflats. Young fish use surface waters, including oceanic settings. Their partly transparent appearance and occasional estuarine occurrence describe a different stage from a bottom-associated adult.
Food and Life History
The maximum reference is thirty-four centimeters total length. Benthic invertebrates provide documented food. A detailed species-specific reproductive account and independent maximum weight are not established in the checked summary. Predation on juveniles is a separate observation from the adult feeding account.
Field Note
Include life stage, depth and nearby bottom structure with a record. These details help explain why young and adult Spiny Boxfish can be observed in noticeably different marine settings.
All Lakes With Spiny Boxfish
Browse all lakes and reservoirs with confirmed Spiny Boxfish records in our database, listed alphabetically.
No published lakes are currently linked to this species in our confirmed records.